Tumbling
by nayadeblue
Summary: NaminéRoxas x- AU. Naminé's boring- or so they think. She's actually a witty, she-devil in disguise. She lets this fun persona out on the internet -Tumblr, to be exact- but then Aqua posted their urls up and now everyone wants to know who sassy and sexy 'pinkribbons&blacklace' is... Fine. She'll play. But she's not going down without a fight.
1. one

**author's note**

I tried to write something for my original fiction account on Wattpad, but it just wasn't working for me. I'm really bad and one shots, or shot shots in general. So this is the equivalent of word vomit. My stories are a jumble of can-dos, can't dos, and I realised I haven't been enjoying anything that I plan out with minute detail. So I'll just see where the words take me today.

**disclaimer:-** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and all music and references made are hereby owned by all their respective owners.

**warnings:- **yaoi in this story, specifically: Leon/Cloud. Het couples include Roxas/Naminé, possibly some Olette/Pence. I don't support the normal couple groups, alright? I'm strange.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

You know what's cliché and really hard to avoid? Accidental romantic meetings. I mean honestly, when was the last time you read a modern teenage sap-story that began with the girl not paying attention to where she was going, and running into the latest bad-boy hottie that came around? He picks up her things, says a cute line or two that she can't really comprehend because all she's thinking is 'I want to get into your pants'. Yeah. You can name the last three at the top of your head, can't you? I mean, even the last piece of precious fiction I skimmed over, (_Messy_ by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan) no matter how brilliantly written starts off with a violent broken-nose beginning.

So this is me, Naminé D'Ambroise, complaining about a love life I don't really have. I'm just saying, if I can't really have any romance of my own, can't the writers providing fake sustenance for my wounded girly soul be a little more creative? It isn't that much to ask, right? So I gasp and flop like a fish without some kind of outlet to ignore my life, like video games, movies, the internet- you know, teenager-y stuff that at one point acknowledged the fact that today's 2012 generation are a sociopathic yet overly emotional hyperbole-loving, hyphen-addicted bunch of mainstream-yet-not-mainstream couture savvy princesses.

I know what you're thinking! I'm psychic, bow at my feet, bitches. Okay, not really, but I assume that it's this point where you point out the fact that I'm one of those intelligent outcasts who's dyed their hair bright purple and reads Edgar Allan Poe in a corner. Well, I guess you're partially right: I have read Poe, and he's brilliant, but I've only managed that story about his cat, you know? The one that apparently died but didn't? I have a normal hair colour, if you could consider platinum blond a normal colour. You don't? Well it's a good thing I never really cared about what other people think about me either. I sound like a _bitch_ don't I?

At the moment, I'm writing for my blog. I use Tumblr. My page is called 'ever-changing' while my username is pinkribbons&blacklace. I'm sitting here chewing on my muesli bar and trying to understand the difference between my classmates as bloggers and my classmates as people. Some of them are _frighteningly _different but I guess that's just the beauty (ugliness?) of the internet.

A few weeks ago, my entire grade decided to write their Tumblr urls on scraps of paper and toss it into a sparkly green bowler hat. The most popular girl in school, Aqua Faye, had posted up everyone's links, and the game was to identify everyone's blog with their owner. So far, there were still around thirty-something people that hadn't been identified. The thing is; I'm Tumblr famous. I've been spilling out my guts and opinions on that site for years. I have sections of my soon-to-be novels and a _lot_ of badmouthing against the conceited jerks in my class splayed out across my archive.

If anyone finds out who I am, I am going to be socially beheaded.

I _still_ know what you're thinking: I'm an idiot. Why did I put my real blog's url there? Why didn't I just create a fake one, or better yet, say I didn't own a blog in the first place? The answer is I didn't. My best friend, Olette DiCicco, threw it in for me, and because of that, my blog isn't just becoming the talk of the odd, socially stigmatised nerd, but all of the popular people -who are so dense that they don't realise I _am_ speaking about _them-_ who believe my blog is incredibly fascinating.

They all can't wait to unearth who the mystery writer is so that they can inflict revenge on their poor tortured soul.

This is me.

**xox**

My school day is comprised mostly of subject matter, homework and avoiding any indication that I might be the mysterious 'pinkribbons&blacklace'. Of course they'd narrowed it down to a girl, of which there were around fifteen left. Why would a guy name their blog 'pinkribbons&blacklace'? _Not_ that I am against teenaged male fashion designers- no matter the straightness. Hell that sounds rad. My brother's gay, so I wasn't allowed to be homophobic.

"So who do you think the writer is?"

"I think it could be Selphie, she sounds a little out there, doesn't she?"

"But Selphie is popular, and 'pinkribbons' hates popular people."

"Plus she's a little dim. I guess it's not her. Maybe it's Shiki?"

I'd been hearing it like this for the last few weeks. So far, I don't think anyone suspects me, but they are slowly narrowing down the culprits. Not one of the other girls want to reveal if they're 'pinkribbons' because their own blogs are getting a lot of attention. I wanted to blog, but I was afraid that whatever I said would reveal who I really am.

_This royally sucks._

At the moment the only upside to this blog had been the attention I'd been getting from a particularly music-savvy 'blackcat'. He'd been replying to my original posts for about a year now, said that my 'artistic eye' would have gone pretty well with some of his music tracks. I followed blackcat back of course, he sounded like an absolute babe, and he liked my drawing style. The only original thing about my blog had to be my theme and the drawings, plus opinions posted throughout it. I said everything I should have been saying in real life on my blog.

The _super cool_ thing I realised was that blackcat, whose blog was called 'lucky13' as one would have it (why didn't I choose a super-cool motif to decorate my blog with?), was actually a _member of my __**grade!**_How simply awesome would it be to meet him? Forever I have been liking his work and commenting on his opinions and envisioning some nerdy hipster like myself. Well, not exactly like me, I don't really consider myself cool enough to be hipster, but that doesn't mean blackcat wasn't. But back to my topic, I seriously thought that he would have lived somewhere more… _dazzling_ than Twilight Town, some music/fashion/art capital of the world like Destiny Islands or Hollow Bastion.

At the moment, I really couldn't pin blackcat on any particular person. There were about twenty guys that had yet to be identified. Some of them liked the excitement, and some of them just couldn't be bothered putting up with the busy-bodies all up in their grill about their account passwords.

Out of them, I only recognised five people; Pence, the amazing photographer who'd I'd worked with on multiple occasions, but I had to admit, I'd gone through his iPhone before and he didn't have any of the songs that blackcat listened to. There was Neku, and while I'd admit, he did have a brilliant taste in music –I didn't know him that well, but I heard a mash up he'd made once for a mini-project in music class and his taste was magnificent- but Neku was a lone wolf type of guy. He wasn't very social. Then there was Roxas and Ventus; these two twins were sex on legs, but were totally different. Ventus was this happy-cheery guy who ate up attention like Lucky Charms while Roxas was a black cloud of temperament and bad attitude- you know, typical bad boy. Ventus definitely didn't fit the person behind blackcat's persona, and not a lot of people had _ever_ heard Roxas speak, so I doubt he fit the wordy linguistics (and not to mention _beautiful voice_) of blackcat illustrated through his amazing music. And finally there was Vanitas, who I _really_ couldn't picture the blog of. I'm not sure why, he was just so enigmatic. I couldn't really imagine him owning a blog.

And so, I've taken it upon myself to discover these wonderful people by myself, and figure out whether they were my mysterious blackcat or not.

Immediately.

_After_ my blog entry.

**xox**

My blogging environment today was my kitchen. We recently moved houses, and my stepfather is ridiculously rich, providing for a ridiculously rich-looking house. Sure, he doesn't have all that close relationships with me or my brother- since he jumped into our lives during the teenage years, but he loves my mother very much and because of that we love him in turn. Plus it helps that he doesn't mind paying for any kind of expense we ask for. Additionally, he's cool around anyone we bring home, save the corny dad jokes, but it's alright we're pretty used to those, and if he didn't have _some_ kind of flaw we'd think he was some kind of perfect robot.

Mom and Ansem don't really live here, even if the house is under their name. At the moment they're living through an extended business trip in Dark City that's going to be over two years. I have absolutely no idea what they do. They could do anything from insurance to drug dealing, but whatever it is, it rakes in a shitload of munny.

Today I was sitting on the isle of the kitchen while my brother's boyfriend, Leon cooked dinner. Leon lives here, he has since Cloud started college two years ago and he's a pretty mellow guy, very quiet, just like Cloud. They're perfect for each other, they understand each other on a level I will never understand and they do things that are so unintentionally cute I really have to stop myself from squealing at their adorableness. It's really kind of odd, considering Cloud is my brother, but then you have to factor in the fact that I never really saw him growing up. He would split as soon as our alcoholic dad brought out the bottle, leaving me to deal with that asshole (who, admittedly left us nothing but gloriously beautiful genes). I'm so glad that mom left him. I never really knew who Cloud was until Mom started dating Ansem.

The bad thing about being unbearably quiet is that sometimes even your brother, and your brother's boyfriend forget that you're there. I looked up from my Tumblr account and found Cloud was wrapping his hand around Leon's waist and presumably whisper dirty,_ dirty_ things in his ear.

"God dammit, guys. Can you save that for when I'm not around? The house is enormous."

"Well then go somewhere that's not the kitchen," Cloud purred, nipping Leon's ear. Unfortunately for him the brunet wasn't having any of it, and pushed him away.

"Do you remember the last time you commenced foreplay in the kitchen?" the brunet said, with a _completely_ nonplussed tone. How in the name of jelly doughnuts did he do that?

"Oh for the love of Heartless," I swore.

"You got chocolate syrup into my favourite jeans," Leon hissed at Cloud. "And I'll save Nami the trauma of knowing where all of the cinnamon sugar disappeared."

"Too late," I moaned.

"Hey! The cinnamon was _your_ idea. Now all of the merengue and strawberry paste-!"

"LALALALA!" I yelled as I scooped up my laptop and ran out of the room and down the hallway. "If you're going to have kitchen sex don't you _dare_ touch my cheesecake!"

An unmentionable amount of hours later, I found myself eating quesadillas with my two brotherly figures. Well, they were having one of their silent conversations while I blogged and ate at the same time.

"Exactly what are you doing that all of your time has suddenly been ruled by that witchery in a silver box?" Cloud asked me, using a finger to run along the screen. Cloud wasn't all that good with technology. He was brilliant with mechanics, he was studying it at uni. Leon was working on some kind of business/technology degree.

"I'm trying to figure out the identity of someone who's been commenting on my blog. It's safe to assume they go to my school."

"Oh, Sora mentioned something about that." Sora was Leon's little brother. Ergo, I knew him well, and his boyfriend Riku, unfortunately, this meant that sometimes I ran into their friend Kairi, who was an annoying bitch if ever I saw one. She ruled a little gang made up of Selphie and Xion as the most popular girls in our grade. I'd been _particularly _mean about them in my blog, so I can immediately assume I'll be their next target if my identity is revealed. "He also said that he's laughing at the situation you've gotten yourself into."

"Sora _only_ knows what my blog is because he stole my laptop to download illegal music and watch a certain movie while he was here."

"What was the movie?" Cloud asked.

"The Lorax," I replied, groaning at the memory of it. Sora and I had differing tastes. I liked watching classical French films, while he still watched Disney movies. I'll admit, I liked the old ones, like 101 Dalmatians and The Little Mermaid _occasionally_ but Sora had what was out immediately after it had been released. I still had no idea how to download these things. I normally rented my movies from _The Usual Spot_ which was an electronic/book store which sold old music, movies, really classy vintage stuff, as well as normal mainstream, up-to-date music, books, movies and games.

"I worry for that child."

"Me too," Leon admitted.

"Riku grounds him pretty well," Naminé admitted before turning back to her blog.

"Well then why don't you leave him a trail of clues that will lead this mystery blogger to you?" Leon told her.

"Excuse me? How is that supposed to work?"

"Challenge him to a kind of battle of the wits, one that he can't help but participate in, something that will reveal his identity to you. If you know enough about him, then it shouldn't be as hard as it seems."

"Okay, Mr Smartypants," I growled, placing my cheeks in my hands and making a fishy-face at him. "How do you suppose I start this so-called 'Battle of the Wits'?"

"Easy enough; you say he's a brilliant musician? Start with music."

**tbc.**

* * *

Do you like it? Hate it? Want to rip it up into tiny little pieces, cremate it and desecrate its grave? Well then tell me. I'm looking forward to your response.

**stay excellent.**


	2. two

**author's note**

I should have said earlier, but this story is strongly influenced not only by _Dash & Lily's Book of Dares_ but of **startscribbling12**'s story: **bommieNATOR**, and so I have borrowed a few of the usernames. You should go check it, it's a fun little read.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

* * *

**'I challenge you!' –**by pinkribbons&blacklace

So it's been a bit and a nuclear apocalypse since everyone decided to place their urls in that stupid little green bowler hat (does anyone know where to get one of those? I can wear it next St Patrick's Day) and now everyone wants to find out who I am. I know that sounds conceited, but seriously, there are better things to talk about during your study periods. Well, I'm curious about a few of you guys too (not saying _who_). So I'm issuing a little dare for anyone who's up to it.

I'm not the most original chick out there, but it's good to know that there are a few of you I actually live close to. Shout out to _Dash & Lily._

one) Let's start at The Usual Spot.

two) She's a real Belle, a woman who can tame any Beast.

three) _ _ _

four) 46/3/9 & 46/7/2 & 48/53/10. Fill in the blanks.

**extra credit! **Time for a little reverse psychology; 'I need more affection than you know'.

five) Leave your answer with Demyx, and wait for the next clue.

In all honesty, letting my friend place the url in the hat was probably one of the worst mistakes of my life, but maybe I could turn this situation around. It'll be our little adventure.

So, are you feeling _lucky?_

_Posted at 9:15pm (7/11/12) with __**354**__ notes._

**blindedsilver** reblogged this from **skyboy**

**princesskairi** reblogged this from **hey!ner**

**dancewaterdance** reblogged this from **gotitmemorised?** and added: _not on your life, Ax._

**hyperion** reblogged this from **FUULS** and added: _how is n-e-one supposed to figure these out?_

**skyboy **reblogged this from **orange&watermelon** and added: _this sounds like fun! ur on pinkribbons!_

**shikineko** reblogged this from **beatbox**

**gotitmemorised?** reblogged this from **dancewaterdance** and added: _hey guy, got any clues on the mystery girl, you lovely son-of-a-gun you?_

show more notes

hide notes

* * *

"O-M-G. Did you read what pinkribbons said on her Tumblr last night?"

"Yeah! Those clues are totally cryptic. I mean, I get she's referencing Beauty and the Beast, but what were those numbers?"

"How are we supposed to know what 'The Usual Spot' is?"

"And the reverse psychology thing?"

"Gods, I am never going to understand how this chick became Tumblr famous. She's just some lonely slut looking for attention."

"But have you seen her pictures? And her poetry?"

"Whatever. Poetry is super easy. If I reblogged a few pretty pictures and spun a few words I'd be famous in no time."

I snarled under my breath at the absolute _crap_ I'd been hearing from the stupid wannabees. So far, I hadn't received any comments that weren't ridiculous ploys that commented they'd never be able to figure the puzzle out or were trying to get me to reveal more clues. Some weirdo even offered to send me some nude snaps for more clues about my identity (I believe it was probably Reno's weird brother, Axel trying to be funny). I rolled my eyes and deleted the message.

So far blackcat hadn't replied to the post, which was disappointing. I'll admit, I've developed some kind of internet crush on this boy (I assume it's a boy- Gods, I hope it's a boy). Don't tell me this has never happened to you, there are heaps of internet idols you keep watching because they are both witty and adorable (danisnotonfire is a brilliant example of these specimens) but thus far, the only image of blackcat I'd ever seen is an image taken from someone else, which cut off his head and just showed an picture of his collarbone and a shuriken-like necklace hanging from his neck. I'd yet to see any of these mysterious clues on the boys I suspected were blackcat. I'd saved the picture by the way- I have some weird clavicle fetish. Plus, it's the only proof I have that blackcat isn't some forty-two year old pedophile living with his mother.

"Even if you're like that," I heard Ventus say to Aqua, "pinkribbons really does have a lot of people following her, and there are probably going to be a lot of people at The Usual Spot after school."

"'The Usual Spot' is an actual _place_?" one of the brain-dead floozies asked him.

"Yeah," Ventus replied cheerily, grinning that fantastic sunshine-smile of his, "It's some backwater place hidden along Main Street. Trust me, I wouldn't know about it if Roxas wasn't a regular. He's friends with Demyx, the guy you need to talk to in order to get the next clue."

"Oh my God, I thought your brother was a mute," I realised that it was Selphie who'd spoken. They were speaking in the hallway my locker was located. Don't go thinking that I was actually here because I was stalking people who were talking about my blog.

"He's not. He's actually got a really nice voice, he just doesn't speak a lot."

"It's kind of hard to, I mean, doesn't he hang out with people that are a lot older than him?" that was Kairi. Snap, how did I not realise she was there? Then again, I'm not exactly tuned to the likes of her… Evil slutface.

"His ex-boyfriend was part of a gang called Thirteen."

Kairi wrinkled her nose, and I chanced a look at them, pulling a strand of platinum blond behind my ear so I could see them out of the corner of my eye. I really envied Kairi, she was really pretty- of course, that's where my adoration for her ends. Minus the beautiful façade and you have a conservatist, homophobic, shallow, Prada-obsessed party girl, complete with her butchy female bodyguard (Xion) and a minion attempting to make 'fetch' happen (Selphie). I honestly don't know how she could be friends with people as cool as Sora and Riku. How did she _not_ realise that the both of them were crushing on each other? They'd probably known each other for a while. Girls don't become as bitchy as her until at least middle school.

"You're brother's a homosexual?" she asked, her voice filled with a little distain.

Ventus looked like he was genuinely confused about her disgusted tone. "He's bi, why?"

"Oh nothing," Kairi replied, obviously she didn't want to get on his bad side. Demyx had come out when we were in freshman year and she'd gone 'Yuck, two boys shouldn't be allowed to like each other' to the news. She was honestly one of the most medieval people I'd ever known. I guess she might have been someone who voted for Mitt Romney had she the chance. The way that Sora and Riku fought, and how Kairi was always there to break them up, it looked like they were fighting over her. But there were those close to them that knew better.

Roxas intrigued me, I'll admit. It's safe to assume he liked the same kind of music as me, considering the band t-shirts he wore underneath flannel and trench-coat jackets. I envy him. It was so hard to find those kinds of shirts. Ventus was probably right about his voice, and I wanted to know what it sounded like. He sat at the back of Music and played classical piano and guitar amazingly during our performance assignments. I'd also seen him playing a _mean_ harmonica on the way back from school one day. I mean, it's charming and sexy right? He was just so different. He probably wore some kind of eyeliner and amassed a heap of Gatsby but there is just something so alluring about a skinny-jeaned skateboarder wearing hemp bracelets. I really wanted to know him better, but he was somewhat intimidating, and I'm not the sassy bitch I am on Tumblr in real life.

I slammed my locker door, secretly loathing the fact that I thought Kairi was so attractive. Honestly? I wanted to have red-velvet hair. I desperately wanted to dye it, but doing that would mean I'd be simply copying Kairi and I didn't want to be thought of as someone who wanted to copy her. The upside to this? If I had some sex-appeal and a killer set of vocals I could be like Taylor Momsen- a celebrity harbouring my lesbian love-like devotion.

"What's stuck up your butt, Naminé?" Kairi sneered at me, grinning like she was fucking queen of the world. And I guess I just wasn't in the mood to speak to her or deal with any part of her puny attention span because my immediate answer was; "Definitely not your vibrator, that's what."

"Ooh _burn!_"

_"Miss D'Ambroise!"_

_Aww, shit_.

**xox**

"Well, well. Look who we have here, it's rather odd to see you here, Miss Naminé," Vanitas grinned toothily at me. He was straddling one of the worn out detention chairs and crossing his arm over the back rest, looking up through thick black lashes with golden eyes. I was unnerved by his stare, but it had less to do with his genetic anomaly than the fact that he was really handsome and cool, plus I had a crush on him back in middle school- and now he was finally talking to me. Sure, I didn't feel the same way for him anymore, but gods, he was still so hot. I had to focus on something else… The Detention Room was in a hideous state. The place looked like it had survived through The Holocaust.

"And it's good to be here with you shiny perfect examples of normal members of society," I replied back snippily, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Come now, Darling. Sarcasm is so unbefitting of you," he replied, petting my head and running his hand through a lock of the platinum blond strands. "We're not all here because we want to be. Take Riku for example, he should be going on a date with Sora."

"Instead," the silver-haired teen butted in, aquamarine eyes dulled through his bluish-grey fringe, "I'm stuck here trying to understand Roxas' music taste."

"Roxas is here?" I blurted out before I realised how insulting that was. Gods. I didn't even realise he was in detention. I was spending the entire time regretting what I'd said to Kairi. I looked back in my seat and found Roxas with his Doc Martens crossed at the ankle on his graffiti-infested desk. The corner of his lip quirked up in a smirk and he gave me a two-fingered salute. He was playing his iPhone softly next to him while folding a piece of paper into an origami crane.

"Gypsy and the Cat?" I asked him.

He looked at me with surprise, nodding.

"Awesomely underrated band, I loved _The Piper's Song._ I found them linked to a song by Two Door Cinema Club," she informed him, and watched with adoration as his smirk widened into a smile.

"Neon Hitch," he replied, "has a brilliant mix of _What You Know_ with-"

"Ellie Goulding," I grinned, adjusting myself so I was performing the seiza position on my chair and facing him.

"Hideously auto tuned, but Neon's got a brilliant set of vocals on her. Plus, have you heard her back story? The _circus_. Nothing gets more exciting than that." Now that I'd actually heard him speak, I had to admit that Roxas' voice was so addicting. I could tell he was a smooth falsetto, because he had a naturally high pitch, but was speaking with this gritty, sleazy, sexy quality that was sending shivers down my spine.

"Definitely. Lord, I've never heard you speak before, Roxas. You remind me of Taylor Momsen."

"He does not," Riku said, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"It's not the pitch, Ri," I explained, turning my attention back to Roxas, who was staring at me with curiosity. Gods, I had to stop myself from blushing. His eyes were just so _blue._ They were intense and smouldering and it felt like he was seeing right through me. My skin lit and sizzled. I placed my hand on my neck and played with a few of the hairs. "It's the way you're talking; making it deep and gritty, smoky and sexy. Do you normally speak like that?"

"This _is_ my normal voice," he told me, and I blushed when I realised how stupid that sentence must have sounded.

"Ah yeah, sorry. It just- you know, sounds really cool."

"Thanks," he replied, looking genuinely surprised. Of course he looked surprise. Everyone thought he was a mute. They'd never heard that boyish _addicting_ sound whenever he parted those pretty, pale lips. "I'm kind of scared to talk to people. Multiple times I've been compared to Jesse McCartney."

I shuddered, sitting on my desk and crossing one of my legs over the other one. "Understandable. He's got talent but produces absolute rubbish."

"Amen," Vanitas and Riku said in tandem.

I giggled guiltily, placing a hand to my mouth, "There's only one song I have from him: his version of _I'll Try_."

"That's a Disney song, it's automatically excused," he replied, taking his boots off the table and sat cross-legged on the chair. Detention should be over soon. I turned to the clock. Yeah, ten minutes. I found myself accidentally tracing Roxas' muscles once again. I'd never really bothered to look at him before. He's so quiet. He was just a presence. A presence in glorious clothes. Today he was wearing a _Velvet Underground_ band t-shirt under a black-grey-white flannel with sleeves pushed up to the elbows, maroon skinny jeans and black Doc Marten boots. He was wearing dorky glasses, a particular weakness of mine.

"So, are you guys going to The Usual Spot after this?" Riku asked them.

"I'm a bit curious as to who pinkribbons is," Vanitas told them, scratching his dark black locks.

"What do you think of her?" I asked, hoping I wasn't making myself too obvious.

"I think she's bit whiny and annoying," Riku answered, obviously ignoring my facial expression. I turned to Roxas, watching as the dirty-blond pressed his hand to his chest, seemingly fingering something underneath his shirt. As soon as he saw I was watching him, he took his hand away and I turned my attention to Vanitas.

"I like her," Vanitas admitted. "She's got guts, and I'm looking forward to figuring out who she is in real life. If only because it's going to cause a lot of drama."

"If I was her," Roxas said, his voice serious, low, and absolutely intoxicating, "I'd delete my account while I was ahead."

"Delete an account?" I questioned him, and he nodded, looking as solemn as ever. "Isn't that a lot of work? Wouldn't it be better to just stop blogging?"

"Someone's gonna figure out who she is. And since she hasn't revealed who she is, it's obvious she doesn't want to be found," he replied, using his hand and playing with the hemp bracelets around his wrists. He had a pretty one with green, red and blue beads on that I really wanted.

"Well then how do you explain her last post?"

"That's what doesn't make sense. She seems so intent on privacy. I'm sure she's someone's everyone's overlooked. She's probably someone bookish and shy."

"You follow her, Roxas?" I asked.

He turned to me and he looked like he narrowed his eyes before he nodded. His blond bangs were a little hard to see through. Maybe it was all in my head.

_I can't believe Roxas follows my blog._

The knowledge just made me feel so giddy inside. To think someone as cool and hip and Roxas, with his nerd glasses and deep blue eyes followed my blog was pretty damn awesome. I was about to ask him what his blog was when Vanitas interrupted me.

"Detention's almost out," Vanitas said, jumping out of his chair. He offered me a hand and I took it, spinning around like a ballerina before regaining my balance. "Why don't we all head over to The Usual Spot together and see if we can figure out the puzzle?"

"Sounds good."

I was nervous as well as regretting everything I'd written in my last 'challenge' post. But it certainly did feel like I was starting an adventure.

**tbc.**

* * *

A plead for feedback. Please write something. It would make my day.

**stay excellent.**


	3. three

**author's note**

Thanks for the responses guys! Here's the next chapter for your lovely, lovely selves.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

Ever since Olette placed my url in into the green bowler hat, I'd kind of been ignoring her. I'd been giving the only people I talk to in school the cold shoulder. Kind of stupid, right? Anyway, I decided I'd let her off the hook once I saw them at The Usual Spot that afternoon. I adjusted my thick-rimmed glasses and cursed myself for wearing a knee-length skirt that day. Okay, even though I _did_ have a sense of fashion, I'd kind of been sticking to the same regime as my _unfashionable_ self for the last two years of high school. I can't help it; I'm just naturally inclined to not draw attention to myself.

Ever since I joined Tumblr though, I'd been thinking about maybe getting myself a new wardrobe. My style icons? Taylor Momsen, Vanessa Hudgens and Taylor Swift. It's a big jump, isn't it? I wanted to dress like them. I owned a Polyvore account and regularly browsed The Iconic, Urban Outfitters, H&M and City Beach stores for the looks I wished I had. I'd never considered myself particularly pretty. How was an outfit supposed to change the way I feel about myself? I sound really depressing. But yeah, after this little spurt of courage from Roxas –a style icon in his own right (following _my_ blog! Yippee!)- I thought that maybe, after I checked out how many people were looking up my little puzzle, I was going to check out some stores- dress in a little more eye-catching stuff. I had enough money from my part time job at Eckersley's to buy everything I wanted. There was also the fact that Ansem wouldn't mind throwing me a hundred or two.

God I loved him.

Whatever. Back to the point. The Usual Spot was only a few blocks away from our school, Twilight Heights, hidden behind in a little alley off Main Street. There aren't a lot of people that know about it, or the fact that it's the best way to get from the Station to the Sandlot. How did _I_ find it, you might ask? Well, that's an easy one. Do you know how hard it is to find Die Antwoord CDs in this stupid bloody town? Or even Crystal Castles, which is still doing fairly _new_ stuff now. I looked it up online and I found that the only store in Twilight Town that sold them was The Usual Spot. None of the stores I usually went to would suffice. So I went to The Usual Spot and made friends with Demyx, who pulled the most shifts out of the college students here.

I found out that Demyx is friends with Axel Sinclair, who is brothers with Reno Sinclair, who's friends with my brother. It's a very awkward circle, but Twilight Town's one of those close-knit communities- the likes of which are comparable to those in _The Crucible_ or _1984_. That's why I was leaving as soon as I could, somewhere glamorous like Hollow Bastion or Destiny Islands, before incest became a major problem here. The hypocrites in this town were pretty much inbred with each other. I'm glad that I originally came from Dark City, before I entered middle school.

I told this to Roxas, Vanitas and Riku. We were each telling each other about how we'd found out about the Usual spot. Riku had discovered it through me, of course. Vanitas found it during an English film assignment, and Roxas said that he was friends with Demyx.

"No kidding? So am I," I laughed.

"Yeah, my best friend Axel's good buddies with the guy. I can get discounts when Demyx is feeling up to giving up his employee discount."

"Ditto," I replied, amazed at the fact that we hadn't met before this afternoon's detention.

Roxas sent me that sexy smile which I was quickly becoming addicted to. His teeth were shiny, and really straight. He must have had braces during middle school or something, or maybe the dental gods had blessed him, just as the fashion gods had. "You know what? I bet that whenever Demyx told me he'd already used him discount, it was probably because of you."

"I wouldn't be surprised. I'm really not getting why we haven't met until now," I told him.

"Yeah. I mean, Axel should have introduced us or something, especially if you're Cloud's little sister."

"No one really knows that I'm Cloud's little sister. No one knows that Cloud is my older brother. They think that 'Strife's some kind of common name. _Not_ really. I mean," I pulled at a section of my fringe. "I look kind of like him, don't I?"

"Your features are a little softer," Riku said, because _damn,_ I'd almost forgotten that he was here. I guess my mind was so preoccupied with Roxas I forgot. That was a bit embarrassing. "After all, you are a girl."

"Thank you for pointing that out Riku!" I faked gushed. "I wouldn't have been able to figure it out otherwise."

"You're a _riot_, Naminé," Vanitas admitted, slinging a hand around my shoulder. His arm was a little heavy, but I inhaled some kind of pheromone that made me weak in the knees. "Why don't you talk more?"

I really thought about that, but it should have been obvious with the way I dressed and my near perfect grades that I just wasn't the kind of girl that garnered attention. I sat in the corner and quietly exuded kill-me-now vibes as I watched the brainless twats who surrounded me talk about how vital to change yourself to suit a certain guy's taste.

"I just…" I let a thin breath slip between my lips, "I didn't think anyone would be interested in what I had to say."

"They would, trust me," Roxas told me, performing that perfect lopsided smirk of his. "You should start a blog."

"A blog?" I asked, feigning surprise.

"Yeah, people would totally love the way you write," Vanitas assured me.

I pretended to mull over it as we finally made it to The Usual Spot. We went inside, pulling aside the beaded curtain we were enveloped in the smell of oil, cardboard, and the slight sharpness of cigarette smoke. Despite how weird it sounded, I was actually comforted by the smell. Of course, that didn't apply to the _other_ people I knew that definitely weren't regulars here.

"Wow, pinkribbons really raked in a crowd." That is to say, four fifths of the store was occupied with people she had never seen come here before. Among them were people like Kairi, Ventus, Shiki, Rhyme, Beat, Aqua, Sora, and of course, my friends Olette, Pence and Hayner. They didn't look very comfortable being here, and I had to admit I was taking a sadistic kind of happiness out of seeing them out of their environment. I split up from Riku, Roxas and Vanitas, who said they were going to try and tackle my puzzle. I went up to Demyx.

"Has anyone figured it out yet?"

Demyx was also one of the only people that I was behind the blog. He shook his head, and I was surprised to note the fact that his mohawk didn't _move_ at all. I rolled his eyes. Almost every boy I knew relied on a mass of hair gel to keep their looks intact. I watched the people of my grade flounder around, looking at their phones every five seconds. Perhaps they were checking my instructions. It looked like five of them were huddled around an old copy of fairy tales.

"None of these fairy tales are dated to 2009, 1909 or 1809," I heard Ventus say.

"But that doesn't make sense," Kairi whined. Gods, I just wanted to throw a book at her head. Perhaps the one that she was looking at… It looked pretty thick. Perhaps I'd made the problem a little too hard to solve?

I waited at the counter with Demyx, waiting for someone to get the puzzle while I read over a fashion magazine from Radiant Garden.

_Either my grade is stupid, or I made the puzzle too hard. _

I was just giving up hope when Roxas went up to the desk and asked Demyx for a scrap piece of paper, a pen and an old fashioned Sony CD Walkman. He produced a copy of 'Disney Fairy Tales' and Demyx looked around for the CD that was meant to be inside.

_Wow. Roxas is really smart. He's already further than anyone else in this little competition. _

Sora and Olette came over to greet me, but their hellos were swallowed up when they saw what Roxas was doing. Using a quick, edgy scrawl, he wrote down the numbers that I'd listed down on my blog (46/3/9 & 46/7/2 & 48/53/10. I fell in love with the way he wrote the '&' character. It looked more like a quick triangle than the eight with a flick on the end) and then looked back at the CD before writing down 'hour/minute/second'.

I winced.

So he spent a few minutes moving it through the forty-sixth hour, and then the seventh minute. He'd written down the words 'laughed' and 'Maurice'. He realised that at this point the sentence wasn't making sense. So he stared at the numbers once again before writing down 'track/minute/second'.

I smiled.

When the dirty-haired blond was finished with that, he had these words down, which was essentially, the three word question required to answer my question.

'name the candelabra'

He raised his head as he wrote down the name: Lumière, complete with the accent over the first 'e'.

Demyx nodded over the information while I tried to hide exactly how giddy I was that someone had actually managed to figure the puzzle out. And it was sexy, delicious Roxas who figured it out. It looked like he wasn't just another pretty face. He was very quickly morphing into my dream guy, someone that I could associate with blackcat. Hmm. I wondered what Roxas' blog was.

"So, Rox, did you figure out the extra credit answer?" Demyx asked him.

"Yeah, and I never would have figured it out if it wasn't on the Billy player of pinkribbon's Tumblr page. The sentence is chanted backwards during the song _Sanctuary_ by Utada Hikaru."

"That's correct," Demyx announced, throwing his hands into the air. "Congratulations!" Sora and Olette clapped for him while I smiled encouragingly. "This is pinkribbons' next set of clues." The mohawked blond opened up one of my really old exercise books from typo with a stencil of a bird printed on the beige cover, written in a dark purple gel pen in my liquorice-whip writing.

* * *

hey!  
congrats winner.  
if you've actually solved the puzzle and haven't just beaten Dem up for the answers, then I'm happy to see there's faith in the education system after all.  
and if you _have_ beaten my darling up, you're not going to be able to reach the next clues without thinking anyway.

here's a riddle for you smartass: _I am the beginning of sorrow, and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me, yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always in risk, yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of darkness. You'll also find me in The Usual Spot._

shed some _light_ on this mystery please.

once you figure out the riddle, you're going to have to find the sticky note I've hidden according to the answer. Demyx will help you with the part after it, if you've answered the _bonus_ puzzle information.

regards,  
pinkribbons&blacklace

* * *

"Well then," Roxas smirked, taking off his glasses and placing them in his satchel, writing down the answer for my riddle under my message, "it's a good thing that I do crossword puzzles for fun, because this question is cakewalk."

"What's the answer then?" Demyx asked.

"The letter 's'. 'S' is at the beginning of sorrow, and the end of sickness. It's in 'happiness' and 'crosses'. It's in 'risk', 'darkness' and 'The Usual _Spot_'."

"Where do you think the post-it note is?"

Roxas strode over to the neon sign indicating The Usual Spot's location. I realised by this time that there were a lot less people in the store. I guess they gave up then, didn't they? He pulled the post-it note I'd hidden behind the 's' in The Usual Spot's sign and read what I'd written on the post it note.

'bring pleasant offerings to The Lonely Locker. the combination is 38/15/27.'

"So Demyx, exactly what do I get for the extra credit question?"

He pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket. It was crinkled and the paper was ripped, but the writing on it was still legible. Written on it was:

-dream catcher  
-pre-owned ps3 game  
-scented candle  
-hair accessory  
-a tube of paint

"What am I supposed to do with these?" he asked Demyx.

"You have to offer something to pinkribbons once you reach the locker. If you didn't bring the right kind of offering, then she would reject what you've got to offer, and then the game would be over. With this list, you can give her something that she definitely won't refuse. Don't worry, if you want it back, she'll give it back. All you have to do, is give her something from that list, and place it in The Lonely Locker at school."

Well, when he said it like that, he made me out to be some kind of annoying child. Roxas didn't seem to hassled by it. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked at the list once more.

"Roxas, you have a head start. If you fail to deliver the item by Friday, then pinkribbons is going to leave a clue in The Lonely Locker and start another wild goose chase using her blog."

"I got it," he replied, pocketing the information. He reached forward and ripped out the page with my riddle on it, shovelling that into his bag before offering our little group a two-fingered salute and leaving the store. Now it was completely empty.

Demyx, Roxas, Olette and I exhaled in relief at the same time.

"Man that was stressful!" Sora announced, throwing his hands up in the air like some kind of rabid monkey.

"I never knew keeping a secret was this hard."

"Well technically Olette, you didn't manage to keep my secret in the first place. Thanks for acknowledging that you're a failure of not only _your_ life, but mine as well."

She rolled her eyes and swatted my arm. Demyx turned to me and placed his hand on my head, ruffling up my hair. "Those were some sweet clues you put down, Nam. Who ever thought it would be Roxas answering them?!"

"Speaking of which," Olette leered at me, bright green eye alight with mischief, "I saw you enter with him in the store. He someone special Nami?"

I shook my head, but I could feel my cheeks growing hot. I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. "No. We just had Detention with together."

"Whatever you say, Nam," they teased.

Believe it or not, I _was_ really glad that it was Roxas who figured out the puzzle. Now I understood him a little better too: Roxas was innovative, a quick thinker and he actually paid attention to the music on my page.

_Hmm. I wonder if blackcat likes crossword puzzles too._

**tbc.**

* * *

Review for more of Nami and Roxas' shenanigans.


	4. four

**author's note**

Again, thank you guys so much for the reviews. It makes me so happy knowing you enjoy this impulsive piece of work.

And seriously? Stop reading this story if you _like_ Kairi, or can't handle her constantly being belittled because it's not my problem if you're insulted.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

The note that was hidden inside the locker said:

'i require an offering. place one inside the locker, before the end of Friday. please attach your urls. they will be returned to the locker by next Wednesday, when you can pick them up.'

As a precaution, I had Olette collect the item inside, come Friday when I would examine what they'd brought me. It never occurred to me that anyone _other_ than Roxas would have solved the puzzle. So everyone else hadn't been booted out of the 'blackcat' identity after all. When I rung Demyx to confirm this fact he told me that eight more people had actually managed to figure out the puzzle, and there were six items in The Lonely Locker by the time Olette had time to pick up the content.

The Lonely Locker, for anyone that was curious, was a spare locker that was left behind by Seifer Almasy, who was expelled from school for disorderly conduct. I knew he followed my blog and I think he now attends Balamb Garden, which is the school Leon went to before Twilight University. Now everyone used his locker for whenever they couldn't get into their own. I'd borrowed it for a little bit by slapping a lock on it for a few days, but when Olette grabbed the items inside, she'd taken the lock with her so that someone else could use it.

Now, I was sitting in my living room fighting with Olette over her laptop. I seriously love the girl but she listened to _Justin Bieber_. Every so often she tried to make me convert to the One Directional fandom and I'd proceed to make gagging noises and hijack her iPod. I honestly don't understand how she thought I could make the jump from Triple J to _What Makes You Beautiful_ in the manner of a few seconds, but I had to keep repeating that it was impossible. The only thing I liked about One Direction is the fact that one of them is afraid of spoons, and I don't even know which one that is.

"Okay," I said, giving up the laptop and taking her bag, shaking out the contents. "I give up. Have your girl-obsessed pop stars. I want to see if blackcat's left anything."

"It's always blackcat with you. Isn't it about time you got a _real_ boyfriend, Nami?"

I stuck my tongue out at her before picking up the first offering. It was an Xbox360 copy of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. When I looked at the post-it note inside, it said 'from DutchDeath'.

"Oh, well it's obvious who this is from," I grinned, thinking of my golden-eyed friend. "It's Vanitas."

Olette looked at me with confusion, pausing the YouTube video she was listening too. Dammit, she was going to swarm my 'Recommended' video with Glee trash. "Exactly how do you know it's him? Speaking of which; wasn't Vanitas with you when you entered The Usual Spot a few days ago?"

"Vanitas' name itself is a representative of a Dutch painting which depicted death and despair. I wonder what his parents were thinking of when they named him. Yes he was, why?" I asked, as I tore into another package. This time it was a sneaker, a pair of orange and blue Vans. This was from someone called cloakedschemer.

"Well, the normally unpopular-"

I snarled at her.

"I-I mean _lonerish_ Naminé appearing on the arm of three of the hottest guys in our school? It's a bit suspicious, isn't it? I mean, no wonder Kairi was badmouthing you yesterday."

My blood sizzled at the mention of the Bitch Witch's name. To regain my composure, I blew out a breath of shaky air before sighing quietly. "What was she saying?" I took my anger out an another package, this one was from oh, this username was Riku's, and he'd brought me very small birdcage decorated with flowers and a fake bird inside. Choose Riku to use the prettiest offering.

The other three came with a pair of horn-rimmed glasses (from someone called no-one, but judging from her blog, I assumed it was probably Xion (I cannot tell you how surprised I was when I realised she'd figured out the puzzle.) They offered a packet of gingerbread, which I assumed I was allowed to eat –it's not like they could stop me if I wasn't- and that was from someone I didn't know. Their username was nickels&dimes (conveniently, Olette admitted that she thought nickels&dimes could be Pence (I mean, it would make sense, wouldn't it?)) and the final one was of course, blackcat who'd left behind a CD that said 'from blackcat, to pinkribbons'.

"I don't get it Naminé. What's the point of this little game of yours?" she asked me, leaning back and stealing one of the gingerbread men from the packet of offerings.

"I'm making my inevitable reveal a little more fun for myself," I answered grabbing the laptop and sliding blackcat's CD in there. I switched over the YouTube videos so that I was looking at the tutorial for a Chinese staircase ponytail knot. Olette looked at me weirdly, wondering why I was looking at something so girly probably. Out of nowhere, a sweet melody picked in with the reverberating notes of an acoustic guitar that filled the air with music and I sucked in a breath before blackcat started to sing.

_"Oh these mirrors, Darling,  
Reflect a beauty I see,  
In the midst of my dreams. Woah.  
Glittered masks, and pretty words, Sugar,  
Hide something precious inside,  
Or a spirit that's died. _

_"You use façade as a means of protection, oh oh.  
All you need's a simple kind of affection._

_"And I can see,  
And I will free,  
A heart whose trapped behind these beautiful lies,  
And hiding delicate eyes. Oh oh oh.  
Reclaim the lost,  
Whatever the cost,  
Because the truth –at first- might be painful to see,  
But the heart is what matters to me."_

I paused the song, trying to absorb exactly what I'd listened to. blackcat; probable musical genius had written _me_, _ME;_ lonely Naminé D'Ambroise a _song_.

"No one's ever done something _this_ romantic for me," I said in complete and utter shock.

"Not to mention," Olette giggled, opening a tab and typing in the url for blackcat's Tumblr page, "he sounds like a total babe. C'mon Naminé, you're in the music class, you always say he's some kind of amazing musician, so he has to be someone in the class, right?"

_If only it was that easy._

"If you hadn't realised, Ollie, around three quarters of the Music class have yet to be identified."

I bet you're wondering, what do _I_ do? Since it's necessary to be fluent in at least one musical instrument if you attend music class. I play the violin, the harp and vocals. Although, my music class was under the impression I was just a violinist. I loved playing the harp as well, and I was probably better at it than I was with the violin, but there wasn't a practice harp I could use at school and lugging my own one around is a lot of hard work, if you couldn't guess. My mom had suggested I do singing lessons to improve my confidence, and I guess it had been working, but all that confidence is wasted on what I say on the internet. I should start using some of it for real school dilemmas.

"I wonder who it could be," she murmured. "Maybe you should write a list of all the boys in your class and figure out who it could be?"

"Are you _kidding?_ I don't even know half of their names! What if he doesn't even do music in the first place?"

"Alright, calm down," I hadn't realised I'd been yelling until she winced. What was it about blackcat that made me so excited? A pleasurable thrill ran down my spine when I thought about how he'd written me a song. At the moment, I hadn't even analysed the lyrics. Writing someone a song was one of the most romantic things to do for someone in my book (unless it was anything like Reece Mastin's _Popstar_, which is essentially Avril Lavigne's _Girlfriend_ of the 2012 teenagers (KILL IT! Kill it with _fire!_). It took courage and a hell of a lot of talent. I _desperately _wanted to know who blackcat was now. "Hey Naminé, does the guy on the CD sound anything like the people in your class?"

"No, Olette. Some skilled musicians sound totally different singing compared to when they're talking. And blackcat is very skilled at manipulating his voice… he can make it really smooth and controlled, but when he's doing angry songs it becomes really smoky and gritty."

"Naminé," the brunet said, stretching out the words, "you sound like a stalker."

"I don't!" I yelled, throwing one of the cushions at her face. "It's just, he doesn't release any vocal pieces that are just him talking about random crap. It's always a song, right? So I have no idea what his normal voice sounds like."

"You and all your music gibberish," she furrowed her eyes and scrolled a little more down the page before I realised there was a new link in his description box. I temporarily hijacked it and pressed the link which said 'green bowler hat'. I realised that blackcat had been organising everything related to the green bowler hat incident on a separate page of his blog, and I realised that there was a link to my _real _name on a post that Kairi had written. Kairi's username was 'princesskairi'. It was appropriate, was it not?

* * *

**'pinkribbons' **–by princesskairi

2 b honest gais, i think all this fuss ova a little nobody laik pinkribbons&blacklace is stoopid. srsly, ur just giving her tha attention she wants. just ignore her lil ploy. gurls lyke her are just desprate wanabees. aniwai, these are the gurls i think she could be:

-Shiki Misaki. lets face it; after she dyed her hair (2 tha same colour as _me_) she's bin really bitchy and mean.

-Olette DiCicco. becoz we all know that nice girls arnt always as nice as they seem.

-Naminé D'Ambroise. we have resently discovered how vicious she is, and the way that she waltz into The Usual Spot with Roxas, Vanitas & Riku hanging of er arm? geez.

_Posted at 3:48pm (9/11/12) with __**29**__ notes._

**pinkribbons&blacklace** reblogged this from **Kinneas-Girl** and added: _pfft. i could have. definitely. please. do TH a favour. stop talking, you are essentially an oxygen thief. _

**sparkylarx** reblogged this from **gotitmemorised?** and added: _Ifrit's hairy balls, is that the sad little red-head who sung 'Hikari' at the talent show in senior year?_

**AlBhedBaby!** reblogged this from **nickels&dimes**

**blindedsilver** reblogged this from **princesskairi** and added: _Tone it down, Kai. Vanitas was the one that suggested we head to The Usual Spot._

**feelthePaine** reblogged this from **AlBhedBaby!** and added: _Well she _is_ being an attention whore. Still, it'd be classier to insult her with a little bit of grammar._

**no-one **liked this post.

**gotitmemorised?** reblogged this from **dancewaterdance**

**dansewaterdance** reblogged this from **blackcat** and added: _why does all the fun stuff happen once we leave?_

**Kinneas-Girl **reblogged this from **NekuProxy** and added: _she totally _is_ an attention seeker. i couldn't have said it better myself._

show more notes

hide notes

* * *

We'd driven to the mall in the time that it took Olette to read me what Kairi had written and all of the comments that went underneath it.

"I can't _believe_ her audacity!" I growled, clenching my fists.

"I can't believe her grammar," Olette winced, "or that fact that she thinks _I'm_ you. Honestly… I could never be as mean as you."

I let out an amused huff, bumping my hip into hers playfully. "I actually feel grateful for Larxene, even if she was such a bully and stole everyone's lunch money when we were freshmen."

"Naminé, what are we doing at the mall again?"

"Oh," I'd almost forgotten. I'd sprung the request on Olette so suddenly that she didn't even have time to pack up the math homework she'd started. Olette was studious, I was not. The reason we'd become friends in middle school, was because I needed a math tutor. "I need to change my wardrobe." The other thing about Olette? She was fashionable, but her mother was having trouble covering for the bills so she made the best out of what she had. Olette was studying hard so she could get a scholarship to Twilight University. I felt bad sometimes that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with my life. "I've decided that I suddenly want to start dressing in fashionable clothes. You're my bestie, so I'm going to buy you an outfit too."

"Oh no, Nam, I couldn't," she flushed, waving her hand in front of herself.

"Don't be ridiculous! I need to pay you back for all the math tutoring since the beginning of middle school." I grabbed her hand.

"Naminé!" Olette insisted, pulling me back. "What is this all about?"

"Do you want the standard answer, or the honest one?"

"If you're up to it."

"…There's someone at school I want to impress."

"You could have just _said_ you had the hots for Roxas-" I clapped my hand over her mouth, flushing like a ripe strawberry.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Olette was a pain sometimes, but she really is the most reliable person a friend could have. And she was going to make me look fabulous. I could tell. And Daddy's money was going to back me up.

Eat your heart out, Kairi.

**tbc.**

* * *

The song that Roxas sung to Nami is 'Beautiful Lies', and I wrote it. I might put it to some music someday. Review please.


	5. five

**author's note**

By popular demand, we have a chapter in Roxas' perspective. And by the way, in my head canon, Britney Snow is still Naminé's voice, but her _singing _voice is Ariana Grande. God dammit she is so _talented_. I love her so much, she makes me listen to pop songs I don't enjoy, but she sings them and the world seems a little bit better. You should listen to Ariana, and just pretend it's Naminé singing.

**note **There's a link on my profile that leads to Naminé's outfit for the chapter. And then there's another one which leads to pictures of Roxas' apartment.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

_Thursday_

"Garage Band… My Song… rename: Beautiful Lies… basic male voice… record…"

I hit the pause button, erasing the little purple chunk of sound from the computer and lifting my iPhone, a copy of _Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde_, a packet of Pocky and my math textbook in an attempt to locate where I'd left the copy of the lyrics for _Beautiful Lies_. I can't believe it had vanished, I'd only left to grab a glass of water and now I couldn't find it. I cursed my messy room and leant back in my chair, wondering where I'd kept the original copy of the song.

_I already have half of the song down, where's the other half?_

I heard a snickering from downstairs and growled while getting up from my bed and slipping down the stairs. Ventus was on my couch with my black and white chequered notebook, that of which I'd written the song lyrics on. He was _laughing _at me, the stupid little shit. I picked up one of the cushions and slammed it on his head, snatching the notebook he'd dropped before he could ridicule my writing more. I growled angrily, hoping he hadn't accidentally ripped any of the pages. Any other book, even the published ones, sure, but _not_ this one.

"You are a bag of dicks, Ven," I snarled at him, closing the book and waiting for my brother to regain his wits.

"Your writing has never been that mushy before!" I yelled at me, and I used the same cushion to swing into his face again.

"It's _not_ mushy, you asshole! It's emotive!"

"You know what this reminds me of?" It seemed that Ventus didn't know when to stop with the teasing. And he said I was too violent, I said he was too much of a twat. "This reminds me of when you still had that terrible crush on Axel."

"Like your 'Aqua Phase' wasn't just as bad," I replied.

Ventus was irritating because the insults just sailed over his head; he was too happy-go-lucky to take any of it seriously. He knew that deep down, even if I thought he was a stupid twit, he was my brother and I was obligated to love him.

"So, who is it this time? But I doubt any dude is going to like the fact that –according to you- they have _'delicate eyes'_," he said the statement in mocking, but I simply rolled my eyes and placed my notebook on the couch. Then again, I was glad that Ventus could take my sexuality so easily. The reason I lived in an apartment by myself was because my mother was a narrow-minded, devout gossiping Christian hypocrite. Ever since our dad died, she'd been reeling Ventus and I with a leash that eventually became tighter and tighter. Telling my mother that was I was sexually attracted to another guy must have snapped some of her hardwiring because she'd suddenly started yelling that I was no son of hers and kicked me out. This apartment was on the other side of Twilight Town, and our uncle Cid was footing the rent. It's okay, he was rich, being the founder of Highwind Airlines and taking care of me was hardly any trouble.

"It's not a 'dude'," I mumbled.

"Woah!" Ventus placed his hands on my shoulders, but he was still kneeling on the couch, so his balance was off kilter. I was surprised by the exclamation and stepped back, which resulted in him falling to the floor and tripping me over too. We landed in a messy heap, but I didn't get time to snap at him before he pinned me down by placing his hands on my shoulders. "Who is she?! I'm not letting you go until you proclaim your everlasting love for her to the Heavens!"

"Get _off_ me, you lunatic!"

"Either you tell me now, or you have to write me a fifteen-versed sonnet!"

"Sonnets are only _four_ versus long!" I finally managed to get him off me by kicking him in the stomach. Of course, Chuck Taylor never fails you in these kinds of situations.

"Oh my God," he said between breaths, "I think- you might have… " cough, "-dislodged my pancreas."

"That's a temporary organ," I waved off before picking up my notebook and heading upstairs.

"What do you mean _'temporary'!_" he snapped. "Hey!"

I was halfway up the stairs when he grabbed onto the cuffs of my three port jeans. I grabbed onto the bamboo railing before he could drag me down the stairs with him. My brother was an escaped asylum patient, if you hadn't noticed already.

"Tell me who she is!" he demanded.

I couldn't handle this anymore. I guess I just snapped.

_"Naminé!"_

I rubbed my eyes with the hand that wasn't holding the notebook and looked down at Ven who was staring at me with a confused expression.

"Who?"

I rolled my eyes. I adjusted myself so I was sitting on the stairs and facing my brother. For some reason the heat on my face wouldn't go away. My left leg was shaking nervously. I looked down as a mumbled, "She's short. Blond hair. Glasses."

Ven stared at me before slowly shaking his head. He had his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a confused dog.

"Um. She wears ugly clothes. Amazing voice. Carries a lot of books around. When she was in middle school she looked kind of homely but now she's really pretty. Still dresses the same though."

"I'd think I'd have taken notice of her if she was pretty," Ven assured him.

"Well apparently you haven't," I snapped at him.

"Calm down," he said dismissively. "_Oh_ I get it; you're making another imaginary girlfriend so Mother will let you back into the house."

I huffed, "She's _not-_ Oh I give up," I got up and started walking back up the stairs. It'd be better if he was under the impression that she didn't exist anyway.

Who hasn't heard of 'love at first sight'? Well, I'm sorry to the romantics, but that's not what I had. What I painfully endured was a curiosity. I know it's not a noun- bear with me. Ever since Naminé moved here in middle school she's been an anomaly. At that time, all the girls were scrambling to be popular and she just… wasn't. She'd shy away from attention, but the thing was, she had all these beautiful qualities about her that attracted me to her, compared to someone like Kairi who was riding a wave of popularity based solely on her looks.

She was an artist, a musician, Hell, a _kindred spirit_. After the incident where her Dad tried to pick her up from school and had publicly _hit_ her, everyone knew of her woes, and yet she still kept of trooping. I don't know how she did it. My adoration for her was fogged through this sudden hormonal attraction I'd felt for Axel, but when that mess had been sorted and we were friends once again, Naminé stood out more than she should have. I started looking forward to Music class a little more, because it was the only one we shared.

Around the same time, I discovered pinkribbons&blacklace's Tumblr. Now this was a girl that I enjoyed speaking to. She was so charismatic and entertaining. She sounded like someone I could be friends with, so through the alias 'blackcat', I did. Then the Green Bowler incident happened and I found out that she went to my school, I was ecstatic. I'd spend days wondering what kind of girl she could be. What kind of girl had hidden her personality so deeply and so well that no one could suspect it was her? This question threatened to tear me apart from the inside out.

And then detention happened. The reason I was in there was because I'd forgotten to submit my Chemistry homework, but I guess everyone was spreading rumours I'd done something worse. I don't know, ever since high school started people started spreading rumours that I was some kind of delinquent. In a place where Naminé wouldn't be judged, she'd been just as charismatic and beautiful as I imagined pinkribbons to be, ugly clothes aside. I knew that it had to be her. But that wasn't enough information to seal the deal. _This _was how I'd figured it out.

It was also the reason; I decided to withdraw my name.

**xox**

_Friday_

"Guys, seriously, don't you have anything better to do than accompany me grocery shopping?"

"Aww, Roxas don't you love us anymore?" Demyx teased, placing his hand on my head and messing up the hair. I hissed at him and kicked him in the shin. "Ouch, Odin, I need a restraining order."

"This is how I show affection," I grinned at him before turning to Axel who'd just gotten a cigarette out. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his wrist. "We don't need you getting into trouble again for smoking indoors. Head outside."

"Nag, nag, nag," Axel faked-whined, but he was smiling despite that.

"Get to it, Loser," I said, spying a popular café across the way. I adjusted my paper bag of groceries and gestured my head in that direction. "I'm gonna pick up some bubble tea. Do you want some?"

"Lychee for me," Demyx said.

"Iced coffee," Axel followed, grabbing Demyx' hand and leading him outside too.

"Wait, take this!" I shoved my groceries into Axel's hand and he narrowed his eyes at me, but I just waved as I headed to the store. I laughed when Demyx started getting gay and skipping along, causing Axel to facepalm himself.

I was tapping my foot in line and chewing on a twisted piece of apple liquorice when I heard the most _beautiful_ singing. I tugged a mute earphone from my ear (I'd forgotten to take it out when I stopped the music) and looked around for the source. The sound was silky-soft and bell like, the words coming and flowing from her lips as if she wasn't even aware she was trying. As if singing was just a part of her being. It wasn't like the artists I normally listened to, but _damn_ she was talented.

That wasn't even the best part. She was singing _my_ song. Well, parts of my song. But _mine: _Beautiful Lies. The song that I'd sent to pinkribbons&blacklace.

_"And I can see,  
And I will free,  
A heart whose trapped behind these beautiful lies,  
And hiding delicate eyes. Oh oh oh.  
Reclaim the lost,  
Whatever the cost,  
Because the truth –at first- might be painful to see,  
But the heart is what matters to me."_

She was adding vocal trills and other notes to my original piece, making sound different from my song, but I knew it was mine and… ah, there she was.

Naminé was further up the line, closed eyes and sashaying her hips like it was nobody's business. I hadn't recognised her because of what she was wearing: a floral skirt, a white/crème sweater and these really high heels I didn't even think she could walk in, but she seemed to be doing it fine. Don't look at me like that; I'd never seen Naminé in amazing clothes before. And she wasn't wearing her glasses, her eyes looked stunning.

When she thanked the coffee server, the guy actually blushed when she smiled at him. I felt this gnawing feeling in my chest cavity, and suddenly wanted to punch the guy's face in. She brought two coffees to a nearby table, and I can't believe I was seeing this because three guys stared at her as she walked over. One of them got a slap in the face from who I assumed was his girlfriend.

So, she was waiting for someone? Well, I was going to spoil the guy's day then. After I ordered received my bubble tea, I slipped Demyx and Axel's drink into a plastic bag and swung it as I sauntered over to her table, slipping into the other chair. She was too busy singing my song that she didn't even notice I was there until she opened her eyes again. She was probably wearing mascara. Her eyes were so deep and blue; I'd never noticed it before. But I recognised the familiar curve of her lashes, they were dark and beautiful.

"Hey," I tried looking sexy, but I probably failed.

"Hi Roxas," she laughed. It sounded like wind chimes.

"I seriously can't believe you're not doing vocals for music, your voice is _insane._"

"Oh, stop you're making me blush," she gushed, her cheeks tinted an adorable shade of pink. I can't believe how different she looked, and _acted_ to when she was at school. "I've only been taking lessons for a year now."

"Well they're definitely paying off. I heard you absolutely thrash the B5 note." After all, she was a female, and normal females tended to sing male songs in a higher key, but damn, it's hard to sing that note with that much passion.

"I didn't thrash it," she assured me, tapping her fingers against mine. Her touch made the skin sear and tingle. I watched her closely, watching as her eyes fluttered and the corner of her glossed lips turned up in a smile. She was enchanting. "What brought your sexy self over here?"

I let out a disbelieving little laugh, amazed at her confidence, "I heard the song you were singing." Unfortunately, I wanted her opinion of me, before I revealed that I was blackcat. "Who's it by?"

"You haven't heard of him?" her eyes lit up and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. "He's this amazing composer and singer and piano player and- well I'm sure he's a pretty awesome person in general."

I had to stop myself from saying 'thanks'.

"Oh the way he sings. Well he's on Tumblr. And apparently he goes to our school, because he was in the green bowler hat, right? I seriously can't wait to find out who he is. I don't know how he hid himself so well."

"Hid himself?" I asked her, with a little disbelief.

"He sounds amazing in his posts. I guess he's probably got really high scores in English, judging by the way he words his responses."

I… I'd gotten a C in English, because my grammar and sentence structure wasn't up to par. I kept on using creative commons and it didn't conform to what the teachers wanted.

"And music! Wow. I seriously haven't heard any of our guys singing like that. Like, seriously, no one in the choir sings like he does. But he can manipulate his voice so well, but sings with such passion, like Jordan Dreyer and tonality like Kellin Quinn, and a range like him too. I mean, a _male_ falsetto? How rare is that nowadays?"

Um… wow… Kellin Quinn… That was a hard act to follow.

"I seriously can't wait to figure out who it is. I mean, of course you wonder if he's good looking or not," oh _shit,_ "and then you think, you know, what kind of personality does he have, because there's only so much you can display on the internet? I mean, I'm curious, what if he's not really the charismatic babe I think he is? That would be kind of awkward, wouldn't it?"

Yeah…

"Um, yeah, it would." The words came out choked and forced, at one point, I'd started sweating.

"Roxas? Are you okay?" she asked him, her voice laced with worry while her hand crept up his arm. The places where she touched him were burning now. "Say… blackcat wouldn't be… _you_ would it?"

I let out a shaky breath, and shook my head. I forced out a smile, "No. This blackcat sounds far too magical for my taste."

"But…" she said, and it looked like she was actually disappointed for a second, but it was probably my imagination.

"Naminé!" Olette appeared.

"Oh," the blond beauty looked to her side and held up the coffee. _Oh, she wasn't waiting for a guy. She was waiting for Olette._

"Hi Roxas," the brunet greeted me happily, but I felt like anything but entertaining them.

"Hey. Sorry, I was just leaving." I grabbed Axel's, Demyx's and my own drink –which had melted- and kind of stumbled away. I let out another shaky breath when I heard Naminé tell Olette to shut up about something.

"Hey, Rox… Is there something wrong?" the red head said, discarding his cigarette.

"Nothing," I replied tersely, grabbing my groceries and shoving their drinks at them. I was silent the entire walk back.

_I'm never going to live up to her expectations. She's imagined blackcat to be someone spectacular and intelligent and funny, but I'm just… me. I should stop this before I get in too deep. _

* * *

**'no subject'** –by blackcat

i'm not the only person who's done this since the green bowler hat incident. so this shouldn't come as a surprise to you.

i can't do this anymore. you guys may think i'm awesome and great but i'm really not, and i don't want to be around when you realise it.

i'm leaving tumblr. and forget about figuring out who i am, because blackcat's a fantasy, not a person.

sorry.

_Posted 3:03am (12/11/12) with_ **63,409** _notes._

**explosions-in-the-galaxy** reblogged this from **OhanaMeansFamily** and added: _seriously? another great artist has been pushed to stop because of some stupid little high school dare? please blackcat we…_

**BookishBelle** reblogged this from **oranges&watermelons **and added: est-ce vraiment la fin?

**gotitmemorised?** reblogged this from **pinkribbons&blacklace** and added: _you're not the only one. seriously what are you _thinking_ blackcat?_

**sparkylarx** reblogged this from **FUULS** and added: _you coward._

**myreflection** reblogged this from **Cinders** and added: 破壞性的

**JSparrow** reblogged this from **leaveinstitches** and added: _meega nala quista, indeed._

**dancewaterdance** reblogged this from **TheOneTrueAlice** and added: _I can't believe you're doing this._

**ribbit-Tiana** reblogged this from **MissFaline** and added: _say it ain't so._

**pinkribbons&blacklace** reblogged this from **skyboy** and added: _no… you _can't_ be doing this._ _i'm so devastated i feel like crying. please reconsider. the thought of losing you…_

show more notes

hide notes

* * *

I looked at what Naminé had written. She'd kept it short, but not so sweet. I could see how much pain each word caused her.

_The thought of losing you is too much to bear._

I logged out of my Tumblr, not ready to delete it all just yet. I'd have to reclaim all the music I'd posted on the blog before I terminated it.

"Better to end it now, than to see how disappointed you are when you realise I'm not as great as you think blackcat is. I'm a mess that's been living a beautiful lie."

**tbc.**

* * *

It's all drama, drama. Review to ensure there's a happy ending!


	6. six

**author's note**

I know this is going to be bitchy and conceited, but if you decide to follow the story/favourite the story/follow me/favourite me, could you at least leave me one review? I swear, someone did all four once, and I thought that I'd gotten reviews, but instead I saw that it was just notifications and I felt so depressed. That kind of sadness can make me just- not want to write anymore. Take it from someone who's been writing a long time, no amount of notifications can equal the value of _one_ review.

Back to the scheduled programming.

**notes** There's a link to Naminé's outfit for the chapter on my profile and another one for her/Cloud's house. I've found that I've been interested in architecture lately.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

I'd had a revelation this morning somewhere around 3am.

I was in love with blackcat.

There was no other logical explanation as to why I'd cried myself to sleep. Either I was in love with him, or I was just stuck in the teenaged mindset that I was forever alone. I'd opened up my dashboard to Tumblr and there were all these messages regarding blackcat and how he'd stopped. Permanent Hiatus. One of the most frightening things a writer, an artist, a musician, or even a blogger could hear. And I was all four of those.

I didn't even manage to finish his bloody post. Halfway through, the tears blurred my vision and I found myself fighting them of so I could read the rest, pull myself into an even deeper hole with every surprised, outraged and depressed comment.

After I managed to write my comment down, wiping the tears off my keys, I slammed the laptop shut and just rolled into a ball. I called Olette and blubbered for about an hour. Being the good friend she was, she listened until I stopped, and it was about 4am.

The next day, Cloud didn't even bother to wake me. Apparently Leon got up sometime around then to grab a glass of milk from the kitchen and heard me crying. They thought I could use a day off, but it honestly wasn't the best idea. I spent my time looking through blackcat's blog and wondering what had gone wrong. He seemed perfectly content. We were great friends. We connected in a way I couldn't with anyone else, despite not knowing what he looked like, or what his normal voice sounded like. When he talked to me, I was giddy and anxious for a reply, overcome with joy whenever he replied.

I was _so_ looking forward to meeting him.

When I finally pulled myself away from the computer I ate Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie ice cream and watched a DVD set of _VicTORIous, _my secret guilty pleasure. Then I could just forget about homework and wish I could meet Avan Jogia in person so I could lick his face. Sweet Shiva, that sounded creepy.

I hate the world.

I honestly hadn't realised exactly how much of an impact blackcat made on me until I realised he was going to be gone. I didn't know what to do now that he was gone. Or was he?

He might not have wanted to be found, but blackcat admitted that he did go to Twilight Heights. My school. He was _so close._

Although I was disappointed to find out it wasn't Roxas.

I decided then and there that the hunt was still on.

**xox**

I was still going to allow the little scavenger hunt for people to find out about my identity, because I needed to find out if blackcat was still participating in that. I was just going to have to use a few old school methods to lure him out.

one) Stun him with my amazing debutant looks, considering I had dressed like a hideous nobody up until now.

two) Sing. Act. Compose. Draw. I needed to find creative commons that blackcat knew me for. I needed to reveal my identity.

three) I needed him to know what no matter who he was, I was going to accept him, and love him. The heart wants what the heart wants.

_"Love bravely, without borders or fear. Follow your heart, no matter the cost. No matter the cost." –Tyler Knott Gregson_

That was a guy I followed on Tumblr.

I strolled into school the following morning, admittedly less of a mess than I was the day before. I'd prettied up and applied mascara and lip gloss as well as teased my hair so that it had more volume. I was wearing a red, white and blue, plaid ruffle blouse and a high waisted, layered, orange-red skirt decorated with chain bows. I was wearing this under a nude trench coat along with blue Miz Mooz carriage chic heels.

To my upmost irritation, my outfit was earning me envious glares from girls and confused and lusty ones from guys. They were saying 'who is that?' I seriously hated this school.

"Hey, Doll Face," Beat said, leaning like the cool guy he thought he was on his locker. I rolled my eyes, reaching up and pulling his beanie over his eyes. He reminded me of Seifer sometimes. "Hey!" he said, trying to remove it.

"You're living proof that most guys that go here are shallow idiots."

"Where did that come from?" he replied angrily.

"I'm _Naminé,_ Bito Daisukenojo, and I've been in the same grade as you since middle school," I told him.

"No," he said smiling, in a disbelieving tone. "You're kidding me, right?"

I shook my head, so I guess this really is the start of something new (I can't believe I just thought a _High School Musical _line), but seriously, everyone was treating me like I was a new person. Maybe this was my chance to _become_ a new person, minus the change of name. A new start. It would have been perfect, if blackcat was here.

"No, I'm not. Have you seen Hayner or Pence?"

"Oh, wow. You really have been going here," he admitted, before adopting a sly grin. "Well then why don't we get to know each other now?"

I rolled my eyes, and repeated, "Too late, Romeo. Have you see Hayner or Pence?"

"I saw Hayner by the soccer fields with Olette."

"Thanks," I turned on my heel but not before one of Beat's blockhead friends performed a wolf whistle. I'll admit, finally getting this attention was really kind of nice. It was a nice change from being a shapeless nobody gliding like an amoeba through the hallways. I really loved this new change, and wearing nice clothes was definitely a good ego boost. I had to thank Olette again for organising my outfit yesterday while I was a complete mess.

I was secretly hoping to see Roxas. I'd loved the expression he sent me when he was looking at my new clothes, and the way how his kind and somewhat timid nature had shone through his charismatic dialogue when he'd seen 'the new me'. Halfway through the conversation he'd just… stopped participating, with a brilliant poker face, except for his eyes, which had revealed a little sadness in them. I wondered why.

_Maybe Roxas knew that blackcat was going to disappear?_

_Does he maybe __**know **__who blackcat is?_

_Hyne, _what if it's Ventus?

Roxas didn't have many friends save Vanitas and Ventus, and one of them was his brother. I saw him hanging out with Sora and Riku sometimes, but other than that, he didn't have a usual spot. I already knew that Vanitas' blog was called 'DutchDeath', and Riku's was 'blindedsilver', and Sora's was 'skyboy'. I'd also discovered that 'nickels&dimes' was indeed Pence. So, blackcat was either Ventus or Neku.

I appeared on the soccer field and sat on the bleachers by Pence and Olette who were sharing a basket of hot chips they'd bought from the canteen. "Hey!" I greeted them.

"Wow!" Pence exclaimed. "Naminé! You look really pretty- I mean- not that you don't look pretty everyday but you look _stunning._"

"Thanks. You're sweet," I replied, placing my hand on his head, using it to balance myself as I kissed his cheek. I laughed at his flush while I sashayed past him and sat next to Olette. Pence was a sweetie, but he was often poked fun of because… well he was a little on the chubby side, _but_ what he lacked in physical attractiveness he made up for in talent and kindness. Plus he was my art buddy; I always paired up with him during art class. Not many people knew this, but Pence's older sister was actually the famous model Tifa Lockhart (who was coincidentally, friends with Leon and Cloud). That's why prettiness was kind of a sore spot for him. "And besides, you really should thank Olette. I was so depressed yesterday I couldn't see straight."

"Ah, yeah. Real bummer about blackcat. I mean, I know pinkribbons must be devastated. Those two were as close as you could get on the internet… Olette, what are you laughing about?" he asked, narrowing his brown eyes.

"Oh, can I tell him Nami?" Olette pleaded, clasping her hands together and doing her stupid puppy dog pout at me. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms.

"Fine."

"Tell me what?"

"Pence, brace yourself," Olette was gesturing wildly, making the announcement more dramatic than it really needed to be. "You know how in middle school, you told Naminé that she should make a Tumblr account?"

"Yeah? Oh, it's kind of hard to remember." He scratched his messy mass of brown hair. "Why? Have you finally made one?"

"Pence…" she paused for dramatic effect and I pushed her, smiling at her antics, "Naminé _is_ pinkribbons&blacklace."

"You're lying," he said to me.

"I _never_ lie!"

"Oh my God! That is _so_ cool!" he said, placing his hands on his knees and looking at me with a both astonishment and respect. "I'd never imagined you would have become as famous as you are today."

"Okay, but remember not to tell Hayner just this minute. You know how bad he is at-"

"Keeping secrets. We know." Both Olette and Pence mocked her at the same time.

"But Naminé," Pence said, reaching behind Olette to place a hand on my shoulder, "I'm really sorry about what blackcat said. I know that must have hit you the hardest."

"Oh, don't worry about me," I trilled happily, placing my hand on top of Pence's. "I've got something cooking."

**xox**

What is the downside of music class? Kairi takes it. What is the upside of music class? Roxas takes it. Today, our teacher Ms Gainsborough (_also_ a friend of Cloud and Leon's) sprung the fact that we were going to act as the choir for the school's play. This year, the play had been written by Paine: one of the seniors, and it was about the war between the lowerworld of Pulse and a floating paradise in the sky called Cocoon. The Play was a major production collaboration with Twilight University and the posh Academia school who had to ride the train to get here. I heard our cousin's, the Farron sisters, had been casted as lead actors in the play.

We were supposed to pick partners, go outside and practice vocal exercises. "If you're in the music class, you have the ability to sing." What she didn't know was that some of us picked instruments _for a reason_ and it was because, even if we did have some degree of talent, we didn't want to sing for embarrassment or other personal reasons. Normally, I'm just paired up with any random that's left behind, but this time, I turned around and looked for Roxas.

When I turned around in my chair, I was delighted to see that Roxas had been looking at me. I guess he had the same idea. I offered him a smile and he made a gesture for the door. I guess we were partners.

"Hey there," he pulled a very sexy lopsided grin and grabbed my hand, moving perfectly in sync with me as I twirled in a circle like a ballerina. "You are looking statuesque, Honey."

"Now that compliment beats 'beautiful' any day."

"Aww, those two are such a cute couple," I heard one of the other music students say to her partner, who giggled along with her. I blushed and looked at Roxas, but it didn't look like he'd heard the compliment.

"Where do you suppose we go?"

"Let's head to The Prayer Garden, no one's there yet."

The Prayer Garden was a beautiful piece of the school which was a circle made out of sandstone blocks and inside that were logs circling around what looked like the remains of a campfire. The garden was surrounded by flowers, and there was also a second section at the back of the garden which revealed five tables hidden shaded by large beach trees. He climbed the tables with effortless grace, sitting on the top like the delinquent he pretended to be. I slipped into the picnic table like a normal child.

"You're such a prissy. C'mon, sit here with me," he said, taking my hand and making me step out of the table and sit next to him on the table's top. "So, Naminé, it's good you're my partner because anyone else would have made me actually work."

"What?" I asked in disappointment, "You're not going to sing with me?"

"Uh uh. No way," he said, shaking his head. "I joined music to play the guitar or piano. Not sing."

"I bet you're a fine singer," I purred, poking the bridge between his thick-rimmed glasses. Today, Roxas was wearing a fitted powder blue t-shirt cut off at the elbows and grey jeans decorated with a chain and finished with light blue Vans sneakers.

"Ah, but you'd bet wrong," he replied and I released another disappointed sigh, this time I was trying to make him feel guilty.

"Well, if you're not singing, I'm not singing."

"But-!"

Roxas' statement was interrupted by a terrifying screech echoing across the school. I looked out the entrance of The Prayer Garden and saw Kairi and Xion. I hate to admit it, but Xion is a wonderful flute player. Kairi did nothing right. She was singing, but it was time to _admit_ exactly where your vocal chords _would not __**function.**_Kairi was singing out of her vocal range, and the sad thing was that she actually _thought_ she sounded nice. What a joke.

"Was that a dying cow?" Roxas asked me when I returned.

"You got the cow part right," I replied before I realised what he had in his hands, he'd brought along a guitar tuner. Good, this should make things easier. "Okay, you at least have to do the vocal warm ups with me so I don't look stupid."

"I could never make you look stupid, Darling," he cooed at me, petting my hair. I blew a raspberry at him, while trying to ignore how weak my knees felt. Roxas always smelt refreshing, like eucalyptus and mint. It must have been his shampoo or a cologne.

I made a 'brrr' noise by closing my lips and forcing air through them, and when I caught Roxas staring at me like I was insane. I pushed him playfully. "Those are the exercises, you jerk!"

"You sound like a circumcised dolphin!" he spewed out while trying to fight off my attacks, grabbing my hands and looping our fingers. His hands felt warm, save for two rings –one black, one white- on his fingers.

"Ah, that sounds like something blackcat would say," I commented, and I immediately stopped out play-fighting. I didn't feel up to it anymore. I was overwhelmed with grief. Roxas looked at me with concern.

"Where you _close_ to blackcat?" he asked me.

"We were." I answered. "We were as close as two people on the internet could be. But I wanted to be like this." I crossed my middle finger and pointer finger. Roxas placed a hand on my shoulder. "Rox. He said two days ago that he's going to stop using Tumblr." I hadn't realised I was crying until the spiky-haired blond reached forward to wipe away the tears. Soon I was blubbering and it was hard to talk. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought I was better… I must sound pathetic to you."

"No," he assured me. "Of course not."

"It's just… blackcat understood me, in a way I don't think anyone else ever will."

"Give someone a chance," was his immediate reply, and I thought 'who?'

"I desperately wanted to meet him, and just when I'm _this_ close," I illustrated my frustration by squeezing the head of an imaginary ant, "he slips away. I thought we could have been friends. Maybe more. Who knows?"

"You know," he said, placing his hand on my back, "maybe blackcat didn't want to be found because your expectations of someone like him are too high."

"Too high?" I asked him confused. I felt insulted, but Roxas was sincere. I could see it in his eyes. Maybe he was right.

"Maybe… But… he doesn't just have to _stop_ right? I mean… Sorry for being cliché, but I thought we had something special."

"I'm sure you did," he assured me, rubbing my back for comfort.

My idea clicked. I grabbed Roxas' hands, which were so much bigger in my own. Beautiful slender hands, for playing the piano, for the guitar, for writing slanted cursive and brushing hair behind ears. "Will you help me find him?"

"What?!" he asked, surprised.

"Please, Roxas?! I was so disappointed to know you weren't him, but maybe we can find him together, and prove that he _isn't_ living behind a beautiful lie."

Roxas stared at me for the longest time, deep, dark blue eyes awash with panic, hesitation and confusion.

"Please?" I pleaded, making my eyes as large as possible, parting my lips a little. "It would make me _so_ happy."

His face seemed to tighten for a bit, his eyes narrowed, his brows knitted together, and his lips pressed into a thin line. It stayed like that for the longest time, the silence stretching centuries before he let out a resigned sigh.

"How could I say no to you?"

**tbc.**

* * *

Review before you follow please!~ It would make my day.

**stay excellent.**


	7. seven

**author's note**

Thanks for the brilliant people who heeded my words last time. You're all brilliant and lovely, so here's a chapter for your enjoyment!

**note** For a vocal demonstration of what Naminé was singing, please look up 'Emotions Cover by Ariana Grande'. Her cover of 'Vienna' is incredible too. She is simply stunning.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

"So, do you have the Virtual Piano application?" I asked him while he fiddled with his phone. Luckily, I'd bought a bottle of water with me to practice. I watched the gaps between the trees, loving this weather. I'd taken of my trench coat and stuffed it into my locker and was now harbouring a pair of Dior cat-eyed sunglasses.

"Yeah, I do. Just wait a sec," he pressed a few more buttons while I got up and practiced a few more vocal exercises. I tried to suppress my giggles when I saw Roxas smiling into his phone, knowing he was finding my dolphin exercises amusing.

I was ecstatic. I now had the means to sneak around and see if Ventus was blackcat, plus, Roxas hung out with Neku sometimes, so I'd be able to check and see if Neku could have been the mystery blogger. He might not have seemed like a social person, but looks can be deceiving.

"What's your lowest note?"

"E flat three," I said, letting out a few reverberating notes. It was kind of hard to go this low for me. I was a soprano.

"Damn, how large is your scale?" he asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"It's around four octaves, I think."

"But that would mean…" he looked at me, his eyes growing wider, "do you have a whistle register?"

"Last time I checked."

"That is _incredible, _Naminé. It's so rare now and c'mon, you have to show me," he said, his eyes filled with excitement.

_I have to try and make it loud enough for Kairi to hear. _

"Let me warm up a little more. I'm practicing with Emotions by Mariah Carey, or is that a little too pop for you?"

"Beggars can't be choosers," he shrugged before ushering me to hurry up. We waited a little while for the right section of the song.

_"It feels like a dream,  
When you touch me tenderly.  
I don't know if you're for real,  
But I like the way you feel… insi-i-i-de."_

My voice absolutely flew over the E7 note, hitting the whistle note with the perfect accuracy I'd been practicing. I was a little nervous, so I couldn't hold the note as long as I wanted to. I tried again the next time the whistle note came around:

_"And you know the way,  
To make me lose control.  
When you're looking into my eyes,  
You make me feel so hi-i-i-i-i-i-oh-oh-oh!"_

Roxas clapped excitedly and I performed a little bow, smiling, even though my throat felt a little sore. I massaged it as I sat down next to him again and bumped his shoulder with mine.

"Your turn."

"No," he pouted, turning away.

"C'mon, you baby. I hit the _whistle register_ for you," I pleaded, using a mock-offended voice.

"How about no?" he said, keeping the note neutral, but I could tell he wasn't go to jump through the hoop for me. "Please Naminé, I really don't want to."

I sighed, generally disappointed. "Alright, fine. I'll just sing by myself. Look through my playlist and pick a song for me."

He had one in seconds. "Billy Joel is classic. Here's a pretty one."

Luckily, I didn't have to warm up for this, and started singing immediately. What I wasn't aware of were the people accumulating at the mouth of The Prayer Garden.

_"Slow down, you crazy child,  
You're so ambitious for a juvenile.  
But then if you're so smart, tell me,  
Why are you still so afraid?_

_"Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?  
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out,  
You've got so much to do and,  
Only so many hours in a day._

_"But you know that when the truth is told,  
That you can get what you want or you get old.  
You're gonna kick off before you even  
Get halfway through  
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"_

When I opened my eyes and stopped singing most of the music class were staring at me, and I panicked before hiding behind Roxas who had _recorded_ me. Sneaky bitch.

"That was incredible, Naminé," Ms Gainsborough clapped, as did most of the class, along with more surprised whispers of 'Woah, is that _Naminé?_' and 'I thought she was new'. "It looks like we have our lead soprano."

"Oh no!" I shook my head, "I couldn't."

"Why didn't you tell us you were so talented?" a student who I couldn't remember the name of ask. "In singing anyway. We knew that you were a fine violin player."

"Was it you who just hit the whistle note?" Ms Gainsborough asked, green eyes stared at me imploringly. I flushed, a little bit of the 'old Naminé' coming back as I looked down and flushed before nodding. I looked up and saw Kairi and Xion behind everyone else, looking at me scathingly. I huffed and looked up straightening my back to prove that I wasn't intimidated. I was kinda, but, you know. Hard to argue with Ms Gainsborough.

"Yeah, it was. I didn't choose to do vocals because I believed there were already too many singers," I narrowed my eyes at Kairi, "in the class."

"Well, if you have a voice like that, there's always room."

"Ah," Kairi pushed past people to stand before Ms Gainsborough, "Miss. You said that I could be the main vocalist."

"Oh course, Kairi," she said, entertaining her, "for the first six parts. We'll give Naminé the lead in the final seven parts."

"_What?_ But I'm no beginning act!"

"Now Kairi, it's obvious here that Naminé has better control of her falsetto voice. That's needed to sing the main song in the second acts."

"Okay, fine," the red-head pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

I let out a small huff of happiness, sending a smug smile in Kairi's direction. She scowled at me, which had to be the most vicious looking expression she'd ever sent me before. I was happy. Served the bitch right.

"Alright, class," said Ms Gainsborough, "homework is going into pairs and making a unique alteration to 'The Promise', which is the main theme for XIII, as the play has been called. Class dismissed."

**xox**

"So, my house or yours?"

He thought about it, scratching the back of his head, "I'm not sure. My apartment's super small and Ven's staying over at the moment."

"An apartment sounds exciting," I told him. Oh snap, I hope that didn't sound sarcastic. "It's just that I've never been to one before. If you come over to mine, you're going to have to deal with Hayner, Pence and Olette. They're coming over to do their homework."

"Do you live in the library?" he asked me, grinning.

"No, but they really like my house."

"We should head there then."

"They probably won't be doing their work though, hallway through they always get distracted and we end up watching YouTube videos or playing Black Ops."

"Sounds like fun," he replied softly. There was something about his tone…

"Hey Roxas?"

"Hn?"

"Do you have any friends at school? Save Vanitas and Ventus, or Riku and Sora? You don't even seem close to them sometimes."

"Nah," he replied, but he didn't sound like he minded. "During middle school I was bullied. You didn't notice because you were running in Kairi's circles."

"Oh Gods, my tale of woe," I said embarrassingly, chewing my bottom lip. We were trekking up Market Street right now. Roxas' house was in Sunset Terrace, and mine was on Sunset Hill. I never realised how close we lived.

"You might not have noticed, but our school was very conservatist. Someone had gone around and spread the rumour that I was gay, and that set off a chain of events ending up with Seifer tormenting me daily."

"Is that why he was sent away?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I broke three of his ribs," Roxas admitted, and I smiled despite myself. "The Principle was a good man, he knew that even though Seifer was the victim, he'd take the entire incident into account. The reason why he was harassing me, and then he sent him to Balamb, since it's a disciplinary military school. I hear Fuu and Rai are going to transfer there next year."

"You should hang out with us sometime," I told him as we approached my driveway.

"Sweet Shiva, is this your house?" he asked me, even though I was clearly walking into the driveway.

"Mhmm. Welcome to my humble domain," I told him, pirouetting before opening the door. "I'm home," I sing-songed, dancing through the foyer and landing in the kitchen where Pence, Olette, Hayner, Cloud and Leon were fighting over a packet of popsicle sticks. Roxas looked at me with alarm. "Standard afternoon procedure."

"I see…" he answered, stretching out the word with disbelief.

"Hyne! Naminé brought a boy home," Leon said, grasping Cloud's shoulder.

"Hey," my brother said, "you're Axel's ex-boyfriend right?"

"Guilty as charged," Roxas replied.

"You're not hitting on Nami are you? Because it's my sworn brotherly duty to bash you if you are."

"Oh God," I shook my head.

"No," Roxas smiled while shaking his head, "not right now anyway." I flushed.

"Good, because I won't trade Naminé's hand for any less than three cows and two sheep," my brother joked, but I felt like slamming my head into the wall.

_What are we in? The Middle Ages?_

Pence and Olette cracked up while Hayner looked at us with confusion.

Roxas took my hand and kissed the knuckles, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to provide the proper recompense."

I blushed crimson and ripped my hand from his. He didn't seem disappointed though, he was grinning. Sneaky… He'd just told my brother that he wasn't going to hit on me.

"Cloud, remember what I told you about drugs and how you _shouldn't_ do them?!"

"We've got a little music project to do," Roxas explained, placing both of his hands into his pockets.

"I'll go grab my laptop."

"I'll come with you."

"Use protection," Leon commented offhandedly.

"Shut up, _Squall!_" I yelled in mortification, watching his mock-offended look as I ran up the stairs. Roxas followed me up, chuckling.

We entered my room and he sat on my bed while I looked around for my laptop, hidden under piles of school work and sketches.

"So is it just you and Cloud here?"

"Cloud, Leon and I. Our parents are in Hollow Bastion at the moment, but we get along fine."

"You don't get lonely here?"

"No, I have blackcat to… Oh wait," my reply had been instantaneous. I'd gone and depressed myself. "Well, I _did_ have blackcat. But I guess I don't anymore."

He picked up a sheet among the mess on my bed, "This was the song you were singing at the café."

"He wrote it for me," I replied sadly.

"This is only a minute's worth of lyrics. Where's the rest of the song?"

"That was all there was. But I'm writing some lyrics," I told him, finally locating my laptop in the mess. "I think if I finish the song for him, he might come out of hiding. What do you think of that?"

He shrugged, looking nonchalant, "It might work."

I caught a note in his voice that just didn't seem right, "Roxas, do you _dislike_ blackcat?"

"I'm telling you now, Nami. I'm not his biggest fan."

"Why not?"

He shrugged again, getting up from my bed, "He just seems a little unreal to me. What if he's not everything you dream him to be? What if he's just a normal guy who's afraid he isn't going to be what you want him to be, when you finally come face to face? Or a troll? What if he's a fifty-five year old pedophile?"

I didn't realise my voice was shaking until the lump in my throat was literally stopping me from speaking. "I don't- I- He could be any of those things, Roxas. But I… I just _need_ to know."

**xox**

Roxas ended up making me sing the main chorus of 'The Promise' and adding a dub step tune to the background of it. We were sure Ms Gainsborough was going to like it, so we finished up at the same time Olette completed her homework as well. Pence and Hayner soon followed and by the end of the day, we were playing multiplayer Assassin's Creed III on my PS3 system; Roxas and Hayner versus Pence and I.

After we won our second game, we decided to go into one final game that would be the tie breaker.

"So I think it would have been cooler if Aveline was one of Desmond's ancestors," I commented.

"Yeah, but then they'd have to deal with making her one of the main protagonists, and she'd need to get her own game," Roxas replied.

"Girls make horrible assassins," Hayner laughed, right before I performed an aerial assassination on his poor ass.

"You were _saying, _Hayner?" I gloated.

"Whoo!" Olette cheered.

"Whose side are you on?" Hayner whined while he was waiting to respawn.

We were in the final ten seconds of the game, and I was stalking Roxas, making sure he wasn't going to run away. He must have screen cheated or something because he noticed I was following him and his character started running away.

"You cheat!" I cried, trying to chase him.

He let go of one side of his controller and used his hand to poke at my ribcage. That was a cheap shot because I was incredibly ticklish and let out a horrified laugh. Using one hand, he managed to land on Pence's character and assassinate him, while tickling me so fiercely that I dropped my controller.

After the game, Olette told Roxas he should sit with us at lunch time, and the three of them went home, leaving me with a very handsome music partner.

"I'll do a little more research on blackcat tonight," he assured me.

"There has to be a way to repay you for this Roxas," I told him, trying to resist the urge to brush his bangs from his eyes.

"How about dinner at my place? Friday night," he purred, making my knees weak with that beautiful sensual tone of his, paired with the amazing lop-sided grin. I felt my lips spread into a slow smile and nodded my head, practically radiating happiness as he reached forward to tuck a blond bang behind my ear. He leaned forward and for a second, I thought he was going to kiss me. My senses were flooded by his heat and scent, when he pressed his lips to the top of my cheekbone. Sweetly.

_What a gentleman._

I waved as he walked down the drive, throwing his skateboard down, hopping onto it and disappearing before a completely ridiculous thought popped into my head.

_I feel like I'm cheating on blackcat with Roxas._

I pressed three fingers to my lips, and worried the bottom one between my teeth.

_Life is just too confusing right now._

**tbc.**

* * *

Remember to review!~


	8. eight

**author's note**

Over the last week, I've realised that a few of my followers have Tumblr accounts. Guys, if you tell me that you follow me through Fanfiction then you'll get an instant follow back. Oh yeah, and writing Kairi's blog entries are so fucking hard.

**note **There's a link for both of Naminé's outfit in this chapter on my profile, and another one to her room.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

* * *

On Tuesday, I spent a good hour returning all of the presents that were left in The Lonely Locker. Attached to the glasses, inside the shoe, hidden under the Assassin's Creed game, I'd hidden a post it that said the same information:

'my subjects are Modern History, Visual Arts, Music, Mathematics, Biology & Advanced English'

* * *

**'Challenge Two' –**by pinkribbons&blacklace

The week after blackcat left had to be the longest time I'd ever been off my blog. But I've come back now recovered and ready to issue challenge two. For those of you who completed challenge one: congrats, you're of above average intelligence compared to the rest of the population, which isn't saying a lot. Sorry peasants. But you guys _did_ manage to figure out which subjects I take. I hope that narrows it down for you.

Here's what you've got to do for the next clue:

one) Go to the Sandlot on Friday: there's going to be a Struggle tournament on.

two) You're going to need to pickpocket Setzer's massive coat in order to gain a little more information on me.

three) Follow the clues through the underground network beneath Twilight Town in order to gain the next piece of information.

Happy trails, Darlings!

_Posted at 4:39 (14/11/12) with __**89**__ notes._

**skyboy** reblogged this from **orange&watermelon** and added: _okay. i didn't do so good last time, but i'll get it this time for sure!_

**princesskairi** reblogged this from **no-one** and added: _seriously? ohmegerd, pinkribbons iz jus as bad as Naminé._

**blindedsilver** liked this post.

**beatbox** reblogged this post from **shikineko**

**hyperion** liked this post.

**DutchDeath** reblogged this from **sparkylarx**

**Kinneas-Girl **reblogged this from **feelthepaine **and added: _ha, like anyone is going to want to listen to you after Kairi's post._

**reaperJoshua** reblogged this post from **NekuProxy**

show more notes

hide notes

* * *

For the entire day, I was absolutely ecstatic. Firstly, I was going to watch people run around the Sandlot and try to steal what was inside Setzer's pockets. I'd made an arrangement with him, and told him that he shouldn't go easy on anyone that was looking for the information in his coat. This was going to be amusing. And then I was going to have a_ date_ with Roxas! My inner fangirl was screaming. This was just like something out of my romance novels.

Olette had been over while I was writing the blog entry, helping me prepare for this date by organising the perfect outfit. We'd had so much fun. And now I was going through the motions of school, happily skipping to each of my classes. Now I was wearing a black-lace corset top, a cream ruffle roll-up top over that, American Eagle dark denim shorts and Casadei strappy boots embellished with chains, buckles and studs.

I was just placing my bag in my locker when Olette appeared at my side, holding a bouquet of orange flowers. "Oh, who are they from?"

Olette looked absolutely radiant as she hugged them tighter to her chest, "I don't know," she was gushing, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "I have a secret admirer. Look at the note he gave me!"

_'To Olette,_

_"You'll love me yet!—and I can tarry  
Your love's protracted growing:  
June reared that bunch of flowers you carry  
From seeds of April's sowing._

_I plant a heartful now: some seed  
At least is sure to strike. – Robert Browning"_

_From A Longing Soul.'_

"How romantic!" I was happy for her, incredibly happy that we'd been blessed with this new chance at romance. I know that sounded cheesy, but it really was a teenaged girl's dreams come true. "I'm happy for you."

"Well, now I can understand how you feel about blackcat," she told me, her green eyes sparkling, "I can't wait to know who this is."

"Oh, I completely forgot about blackcat," I confessed, closing my locker. We were just about to head off to Biology class when Olette and I came upon a sight that made my heart sink.

Kairi had Roxas pressed up against the lockers, attacking him in a fierce lip-lock. And the worse part? He looked like he was enjoying it!

I let out a strangled sob kind of noise, and the both of them split apart. Roxas' face was one of surprise, bewilderment and then guilt. Kairi looked smug. Roxas tried to say something, but I probably wouldn't be able to take whatever his silky _lying_ voice would have said, so I ran away.

* * *

_Kairi_

The plan was simple enough. How was I supposed to tear Naminé from her high and mighty throne so that she might hand over the solo part for the play to _me?_ That was easy. I needed to shake her world apart. Naminé wasn't used to being in the spotlight, that much could be said from the way she acted in middle school when she used to follow me around like a lost kitten. Now she was dressing in really pretty, really _expensive_ clothes and all the guys were drooling over her, and she was friends with the hotties of our grade. It just wasn't _fair!_ I mean, she changes overnight and the whole school loves her. I've been trying for years to gain that much popularity.

The only way I was going to hurt her, would be to take away the only thing she really cared about: Roxas.

Seducing boys was easy enough to do, and it was obvious that Roxas was already in love with Naminé. So it was as simple as saying 'Hi, Handsome' and pressing him against the lockers. I kept my eyes open, while he kept his closed. And he accepted this because all I had to do was wear a blond wig.

When Xion gave me the signal that Naminé was coming around the corner, I ripped off my wig and stuffed it into my purse. Commence Naminé walking in _me_ passionately kissing _her_ soon to be not-boyfriend. Roxas pulled away, and I saw him stare at her, his face contorting into absolute horror. He said a very quick, "Nam-_wait!_" before Naminé teared up and ran away. Olette followed after her.

Roxas turned to me, and then the blond wig hanging out of my bag, "Kairi. Why the Hell would you do that?"

"To throw _our soprano_ of kilter," I explained with a shrug.

He looked at me with disgust. Why was he looking at me like that? I was the hottest girl in school. No boy looked at me like that. I was desired.

"You're just really petty and pathetic," Roxas told me, before he ran off.

"How _dare_ you say that?!" I screamed at him. "I'm just reclaiming what's rightfully mine!"

Geez. I can't believe he spoke to me like that. It wasn't my fault that Naminé decided to be a little bitch and steal my role. I mean, I could sing so much better than her. So she could hit a few high notes? I was hotter. And I dance better. And I sing better too. I don't need to learn any instruments. If I get a string instrument than I'll het callouses, and if I learn a woodwind, than I need to deal with saliva. Gross.

So anyway. Roxas was totally wrong about me. I'm not petty, I just need the school to acknowledge me for all the talent that I have. I'll be a pop star one day, and I'm definitely going to overshadow Naminé, who definitely didn't deserve any of the lusty attention she was receiving now.

I threw the wig in the trash and touched up my lipstick at my locker before following Selphie to Textiles and Design class.

_Kairi: 1_

_Naminé: 0_

* * *

_Naminé_

I'd successfully managed to dodge Roxas for the rest of the day. Sure, I'd spent all lunch time crying about the Kairi incident and as soon as I'd left school, I'd ran home, but I think that I've finally gotten over what happened. Of course, I would admit that I'd never be able to speak to Roxas again and was temporarily thinking about switching schools.

I can't _believe_ I'd let myself believe Roxas was the genuine thing! I'd tried to flirt with him, and told him my insecurities about blackcat, and I'd _sung_ for him. I'd never sung for anyone but myself and my vocal teachers, and occasionally Cloud when he got sick. Roxas just seemed so- so _real_. For the first time in my life, a boy seems to be interested in me. And not just any boy; an interesting, intelligent, funny, _(smoking hot) _handsome boy.

And it turns out that he was just playing me for Kairi.

Let me just say at this point that I couldn't feel any lower.

"Oh shit," I swore. Roxas was walking up my drive way.

How did I know this? Well, sweet reader, I was sitting on my rooftop.

I got up and attempted to run down the steps I'd unfolded to get up here when Roxas called out to me. "Naminé!"

I ran to the edge of my rooftop and screamed at him, "Go eat your pants!"

"No, I will not…" he gave me a confused look, spreading his arms in a 'what?' gesture, "Did you just say 'eat your pants?'"

"It's not your business what insults I use," I replied to him, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. "Get off my property!"

"Just hear me out!"

"Roxas!" I snapped at him, turning my lips down in a scowl. I'd never felt this ugly before.

The irritating blond was right underneath me. I was leaning over my rooftop and he was on my doorstep. "Naminé, I know _parkour._ If you don't listen to me, I'm coming up."

"You do parkour?! God, that is so hot- I MEAN-!-I'll call the police!"

"You wouldn't."

God dammit. He was right on all accounts.

I watched in fascination as Roxas performed a wall run, bouncing off it and landing in the tree next to my house. He climbed the branches effortlessly, cat walking onto the nearest branch and landing on the top of my house.

"Hear me out," he pleaded.

"Like I have a choice," I replied, gesturing towards my tree.

"When Kairi came up to me she was wearing a blond wig. She kissed me. I thought she was you. I mean, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you do kind of look alike-"

"_NOT HELPING, Roxas,_" I snapped at him.

"_Alright! _Sorry. Well, yeah, that's what I came here to say." I'd been looking away, crossing my arms over my chest, but Roxas just kept jumping into my vision while I tried to wipe away my tears. "I'm not into Kairi like that. I'm sorry I didn't check to see if it was really you. I should have realised you wouldn't act like that."

"Well I wouldn't have _minded!_" I spat out, before I realised how embarrassing that sounded. "Just not now. Sweet Shiva, Roxas, we haven't even had our first date yet!"

"Does that mean you still want to go with me?" he asked, stepping forward so he was towering over me. Damn, I never realised how tall he was. I only came up to his lips. I was at his collarbone when I wasn't wearing heels.

"Of course, I-" I clasped my hands over my mouth, afraid it was going to reveal more and I'd definitely regret it later.

"Well then don't sweat it, Nami. I promise it isn't going to happen again." I was swayed by his completely beautiful words. Besides, someone _did_ mention on their Tumblr that they'd seen Kairi throwing away a blond wig. Roxas was definitely right.

"Okay," I gave in, clasping his hands and swinging them in an arc.

"Thank you, Naminé."

"I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions so easily," I confessed, flushing. I looked up and caught his intense blue eyes boring into mine. "It's just… Roxas, to me the worst people in the world, _after_ hypocrites; are liars."

"Really?"

"Of course!" I replied, trying to convey all of my emotions through my voice. "I don't understand how lying could make any situation any better."

"Not even if it's to save someone's feelings?" he asked me. "What if revealing the truth would hurt them?"

"Not if it would hurt them later on, when the truth is revealed," I answered. "Liars are the worst. They can all just die!"

Roxas didn't reply, but when I turned my attention to him, he gave me a swift nod and made a small little agreeing noise.

"Hn."

* * *

_princesskairi's ask page: talk 2 me peasants u kno u want to_

**pinkribbons&blacklace** asked you a question:

you are an ugly ratchet and I hate you. have a fucking bad day.

_um. ur the one speakin on me tumblr, looks like ur the pathetic one, u attension seekin whore._

**anonymous** asked you a question:

i have officially lost faith in humanity. you suck. go die in a hole.

_srsly gaiz stop wit the cyber bulling_

**nickels&dimes** asked you a question:

hey! don't speak to Olette like that.

_whatcha gonna do about it fatso?_

**orange&watermelons** asked you a question:

I seriously can't believe you would do something like that to someone as sweet as Naminé. Please, refrain from hurting people as you have today, and consider their feelings.

_lol. like shut up you dum skank no one cares what you think_

**Kinneas-Girl** asked you a question:

You go girl!

_finaly! someone who realises how awsum i am_

**anonymous** asked you a question:

epic fail, idiot

_takes one to know one!_

**tbc.**

* * *

Remember to review!~**  
**


	9. nine

**author's note**

**note **There's a link to Naminé's outfit on my profile, as usual.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

* * *

_pinkribbons&blacklace's ask page: Talk To Me_

**hey!ner**

you're Naminé… aren't you?

* * *

I locked my phone. The words reverberating in my head. I looked up slowly from where I was standing, to where Hayner was leaning on the edge of the Sandlot ring, staring at me, gouging my reaction. He was holding one of the envelopes that you had to snatch from Setzer in order to gain more information about me.

In the envelope, I'd written down five random facts about me:

'one) i love Pocky.  
two) i believe girls make wonderful assassins.  
three) my old iPod had three cracks in the screen.  
four) my favourite book is _Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.  
_five) i melt for men who play instruments.

I made a bee line for Hayner, who looked like he didn't know how to react to the situation. Hayner might have acted like a blockhead, but he did remember important details like those that I'd posted in the envelope. He was the one who _caused_ the three cracks in my old iPod screen. He _borrowed_ my copy of 'Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde'. Hell, last week, I'd owned him in Assassin's Creed. How could he _not_ guess it was me?

"Hayner," I said calmly, catching onto his bicep.

"You… you can't be serious." He muttered before turning to me, "Do Olette and Pence know?"

"…Yes?"

"Why would you tell them, but not me?" he asked, bright brown eyes imploring.

I stared at him for a bit, my eyes traveling from his expression to the note in his hand. "Pence has only known for about a week. Olette was the reason my url was placed in The Bowler Hat."

"So?"

"Oh c'mon Hayner, you didn't think pinkribbons followed you because of your 'awesome' blog did you?"

"You don't like my blog?" he asked, looking honestly horrified.

"Well," I shook my head, "not really, no. But," I squeezed his arm, "I followed you because I'm your friend, and I'm obligated to like whatever you post."

"Nami. You said you wouldn't lie."

"I've never lied. I've just never told the whole truth. But I'll explain now: Hayner you are _terrible_ at keeping secrets."

"No, I'm not!" he replied, and I gave him an expression that said, 'Yeah? Really?'

"Do you remember when I had that crush on Riku in middle school?"

"That was _one _ti-"

"Olette's surprise fourteenth birthday party."

"An acciden-!"

"Pence's Halloween themed photography project."

"Oh c'mon-!"

"Just admit it, Hayner" I said with exasperation.

"Okay," he nodded. "I am pretty horrible. But I swear I'll keep this secret for you."

"At least until I reveal it myself," I said, turning my attention toward Setzer who had three kids stealthily following him, one of which was Sora. It looked like a demented game of 'Red Light, Green Light', because whenever Setzer turned around, the thieves behind him would freeze as if they'd been hit with nitrogen oxide. I couldn't wait to see the YouTube video.

"Hey, Nam, does anyone know enough of this information to guess that it's you?" the wiry blond asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Probably not. But the last group that solved my riddle ended up getting a copy of my school schedule, so it's probably narrowed down the results."

"Do you think that's possible? For someone to find you through your schedule alone?"

"If they're smart," I shrugged before I sighed and patted him on the back. "Good luck against Seifer. I hear he came back from Balamb just to beat you."

"Oh, shut up, Nam," he grinned, pushing my shoulder lightly.

I went back to the stands in the Sandlot, discovering that there was nowhere for me to sit. Roxas was speaking to Ven, Olette and Pence, so I thought of an idea. I walked up to my friends and made it look like I was searching for a seat.

"Oh no. It looks like there's nowhere for me to sit," I said with a mock-shocked voice before I shrugged my shoulders and sat in Roxas' lap, hooking my arm around his neck. "You don't _mind, _you do, Rox?"

"God, your ass is bony," he complained. I narrowed my eyes and squeezed his neck a little too tight. "I was kidding. Jokes, Naminé. Take it easy."

After the struggle match, I hopped of Roxas, ready to head back and change before the date when he called me over to a darker section of the sand lot, to meet these scary looking college students. Oh, and Demyx.

"Guys, Naminé. Naminé, Guys."

I didn't get a chance to examine them properly, because the first one to examine me had to be Axel. He blew a puff of smoke into my face, causing me to start a coughing fit.

"Man, are you really Cloud's little sister?" said a tall thin blond woman with gelled hair in the shape of antennae.

"Don't be mean, Larxene." Demyx grinned, patting my head like some kind of pet. "She's cute, isn't she?"

"Hn," said a very short, blue-haired bookworm at Demyx's side. He looked kind of familiar.

"Oh, this is Zexion, Naminé," Demyx said. "He goes to your school."

"Oh, do you now?" I asked. Oh, God, I hadn't meant for it to sound sarcastic, but it did.

Larxene narrowed her eyes at me, "You don't have to sound so bitchy about it."

"Oh, that's a lot coming from you, Larxene, "Demyx said, but he gave me a reproachful look.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out. Trying to stop myself by placing a hand over my mouth, "It wasn't meant to sound like that. Sorry, Zexion."

"It's only natural," the slight-haired teenager shrugged his shoulders, looking away as if he'd rather be doing anything else. "After all, now that you're online persona is getting more attention; you can't help but blend what you look like on the outside with what you feel within."

I froze, completely taken aback by what he'd said. Zexion was right.

He offered his hand. I shook it tentatively.

"My Tumblr username is 'cloakedschemer', and yours is 'pinkribbons&blacklace'."

Time seemed to freeze for several long eons, while this was all processed in my head. Of course. It had made sense when Hayner figured out who I was, but a complete _stranger?_ Who else was aware of my real identity?

"How did you figure it out?" I asked, my voice just above a whisper.

"Are you _serious?!_" Larxene yelled at us. "This puny, pathetic looking girl is pinkribbons?"

"Hey!" I snapped at her, narrowing my eyes. "Keep it down, you overgrown insect. Unlike you, I have a reputation to keep."

She made a really vicious face at me before looking at the audience of The Struggle Tournament, "Would you like me to reveal who you are to everyone here? I'd imagine the reaction would be wonderful."

"Don't," I told her, but I knew my voice was wavering.

"Oh," she placed her hand under her chin, her eyes practically sparking, "it looks like Little Nami is afraid of her secret getting out."

"Please," I pleaded, curling my hands into fists, "I'm not ready to reveal who I am, just yet."

Larxene let out a breath through her nose and turned it up at me, "Wow, Roxas. You sure know how to pick them: a bi-polar pyromaniac and a cowardly internet sensation who is afraid of everyone knowing who she is." The blond woman leaned forward to ruffle my hair, but I pushed away her hand and scowled. This is what I was afraid of. My identity being in the hands of someone I couldn't trust, but Larxene was far worse than Hayner.

"So, how did you find out?" I asked Zexion.

"Zexion's a hacker," Axel replied nonchalantly, pressing the butt of his cigarette into the wall, "There's nothing that he can't hack."

"There's only two other people that have your schedule, and both of them are male. You should be more careful with your clues."

I let out a sigh and crossed my arms over my chest, "I hardly thought that a super computer genius was going to be interested in something like my blog."

"On the contrary," Zexion said with a smile, "the way you depict most idiots at our school is quite accurate and amusing. I wanted to know about someone who wouldn't be frightened to state such things."

I shrugged, "But…" I looked down at my feet, "I am a coward. Larxene could yell to all these people who I am, but it still wouldn't be the truth."

"Naminé…" Roxas murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Oh my God," I turned to the blond, trying to hold back tears, "has your opinion of me changed, Roxas?" I placed my hand on my forehead, "I'm so sorry for keeping this from you, but I've only recently told Hayner and Pence. I… I was just so afraid that you wouldn't like me anymore, once you realised that I was pinkribbons&blacklace."

"Why would Roxas think bad of you?" Axel asked me, and I just shrugged. I wasn't up for answering questions at the moment.

"Now do you understand why I need to find out who blackcat is? We were _best friends_ over the internet, and the world feels so empty now that he's gone," I told him, and Roxas' friends made confused noises.

"You mean he hasn't-?" Demyx started but just as he was about to finish his sentence, he made a pained gasp and curled up before falling on the floor.

"Roxas, you don't have to be so violent," Axel scolded.

"Why did you kick Demyx's shin, Roxas?" I asked him in confusion.

"Oh, you know," he shrugged his shoulders, taking my hand, "he was about to say something we'd all regret later on."

"Alright, well. It's about time I head home," I told them.

"Are we still on for later?" he asked me, and I smiled despite all the nasty thoughts bouncing around in my head.

"Yeah. It was nice to meet you," I said to Roxas' friends before I made my way back. I had an eerie feeling something bad was going to happen.

**xox**

I arrived at the designated apartment block on time, fiddling with the bow tie in my hair. Cloud had just dropped me off on his stupid motorcycle because Leon was busy cramming for a test, and the ride had screwed up my hair. I leant on the other side of the hall from Roxas' apartment trying to fix my bow when he unexpectedly opened the door.

For the date I was wearing a Bardot Ascot rose dress of black, grey, white, red and pink colouring, with very, very, very light pink heels. I'd worn a grey-pink trench coat to keep me warm while I was riding Cloud's bike, but now it was hanging from my arm while I fixed my hair. Roxas stared at me for the longest time. I felt embarrassed and willed the blush away from my face.

"You look divine," he murmured, taking my hand and making me forget that I was still an absolute mess. I walked into his apartment with awe. It was very, very small compared to my own house. There was a void on top of us, with a small staircase that probably led up to his bedroom. The lounge room was connected to both the tiny kitchen and the super small bathroom. "Sorry, I know it's super cramped in this space, but it's home."

"It's cute!" I told him, delighted by the fact that I didn't have to run halfway across a football field to reach the bathroom if I needed it. Everything was five steps away. Roxas had a small balcony, shielded from the prying eyes of his neighbours with fuchsia and purple curtains. It was decorated with a very simple set of dining ware and thin candles.

I was so excited I had absolutely no idea what to do.

"I hope you weren't exactly expecting a home cooked meal, because I can burn water," he said, leading me onto the balcony. Ah, Chinese food.

"Prawn dumplings, my favourite. How did you know?"

He gave me a lop-sided smirk and said, "I guessed."

He pulled out a seat for me and sat down, while I tried to figure out exactly how he guessed my favourite Chinese food. It truly was one of the mysteries of the universe. Or… had Roxas been reading my blog?

We'd been listening to a cassette copy of Scott Tuma (I was so surprised Roxas still had a boom box so he could play it! I mean, who owns those anymore?) The conversation was easy, moving from school to music, to movies we wanted to see, to music once again. Then I finally got up the courage to ask him.

"Did you really guess?"

"Really guess what?"

"About my favourite Chinese food, or…"

"I have been reading a little bit of your blog, Naminé," he told me. There was something in his expression that expressed a disappointment.

"Do you really not think any different of me? I mean, finding out I was pinkribbons&blacklace must have been a shock."

"Somewhat," he shrugged.

"And it was such a pain, dealing with people and wondering what they'd think of me if I revealed who I really am."

"Naminé," Roxas said softly, "I really don't think you should let a blog define who you are."

"I'm sorry," I said, looking down at my food and pushing around a dumpling with the end of my chopsticks, "I mean, I'll be dropping all of this secrecy soon, I'm going to reveal I'm pinkribbons."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked, swallowing a mouthful of noodles and setting his chopsticks down.

"I'm sick of living in the shadows. I want to reveal who I really am."

"And you think, that who you are, is who pinkribbons is?" he asked me, leaning his cheek on a hand.

"Yes."

He shrugged and used one of his chopsticks to spear a dumpling, swallowing it before saying, "To each their own."

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Do you really want to know what I think?" he asked me, placing the chopstick down and looking me in the eyes.

"Yes," I nodded, because he's been a bit vague as of late.

"I think that we use the guise of the internet to act as the person we want to be. Who we are on the net, and who we are as people differ completely."

"So… You don't think I'm like pinkribbons?" I asked him curiously.

"I believe you share some traits with pinkribbons," he said looking to the side, "but I doubt you completely match her in every aspect, even if you are showing your true self."

"Why not?"

"Do you _aim_ to be like her?" he asked, but this time, there was a note of annoyance in his tone.

"Yes," I replied, curling my hand into a fist. "I want to be strong and confident."

"But pinkribbons is bitchy and conceited," he said, grating his teeth. "With the freedom to be who we are, we become the part of us we wouldn't want to be friends with as well."

"Blackcat wasn't like that," I answered immediately, feeling like Roxas was verbally attacking me. At the mention of blackcat, his eyes drooped. "He was kind, and he was always there when I needed him."

Roxas shook his head, and said in a voice that was barely concealing rage, "Where is he _now, _Naminé?"

"I'm-" my voice was on the verge of tears, "I'm going to find h-"

"What if he doesn't _want_ to be found?!" he yelled at me, getting up so fast his chair banged into the railway of his balcony. I'd never heard him yell before. It was scaring me. "You're always saying 'blackcat's kind', 'blackcat's talented', kindred spirit, and 'brilliant composer', someone that can understand you. Well _I'm sick of it._ Are you in love with blackcat, Naminé? Because you might be looking at me, but your mind's on him, isn't it? Why can't you look at _me?!_"

"Roxas?" I asked, trying to tone it down, "Are you seriously jealous of an internet friend?"

"_Yes!_" he snapped. "Because he's got you enraptured. Reality check: _I_ can see the beauty behind the reflecting mirrors as well. I _know_ you use façade as a means of protection. But blackcat can't free a heart that's trapped behind beautiful lies. He can't understand this painful truth, and the heart doesn't matter to him, because he _doesn't exist._"

"No…" I said in disbelief, mentally remembering the words for the song that blackcat sent me right before he stopped using Tumblr.

_"Oh these mirrors, Darling,  
Reflect a beauty I see,  
In the midst of my dreams. Woah.  
Glittered masks, and pretty words, Sugar,  
Hide something precious inside,  
Or a spirit that's died. _

_"You use façade as a means of protection, oh oh.  
All you need's a simple kind of affection._

_"And I can see,  
And I will free,  
A heart whose trapped behind these beautiful lies,  
And hiding delicate eyes. Oh oh oh.  
Reclaim the lost,  
Whatever the cost,  
Because the truth –at first- might be painful to see,  
But the heart is what matters to me."_

Roxas had remembered _all_ the lyrics, even the ones I _hadn't_ been singing on the day he met me at the café. There was no other way he could do that unless...

"_You're_ blackcat," I whispered, feeling the tears spilling over my eyes. "How long have you known I was pinkribbons?"

"I've known since the Friday I met you at the café, because you were singing _my_ song," he said, slow and calming. But I was feeling anything but calm.

"You _lied_ to me," I said in horror.

"But it was only because-" he said, but I couldn't let him finish. I was too distraught.

"I bore myself to you. I trusted you in a way I never had another. And you _lied to my __**face!**_"

"Naminé…"

"Why would you do that?" I sobbed, getting out of the chair, looking around for my purse. "Why would you watch as I pathetically fawned over you? How I gushed like a stupid thirteen-year-old girl about how I thought you were amazing?"

"Naminé!" he said, grabbing my wrist, but I was hysterical. All I felt was a throbbing pain in my chest, because Roxas had seen me at my weakest.

"You probably mocked the fact that I was crying over you. Did you enjoy watching as I broke down for you?" I snapped at him, trying to rub away my tears. He grabbed onto my arm.

"Naminé, look at me," he demanded.

_"Why did you let me think you'd __**left**__ me?! Do you know how much it __**hurt?**__" _I sobbed. "I thought you were really gone! Why did you let me suffer?" I said, breaking free of him and slamming into the door. "Why did you _watch_ as I suffered? Does it _amuse_ you?"

"You're over reacting," he told me, and the thing was, I probably was, but I didn't have the heart to deal with him right now. I'd just felt so betrayed.

"Don't worry," I said to him, shaking my head. I probably looked like a mess. But I didn't care. "I was in love with a part of you- I'm not sure which one. But it's obvious now, no part of _you_ wanted _me_. You won't have to deal with me, ever again."

I slammed the door.

And ran away.

**tbc.**

* * *

Review to read from Roxas' perspective next chapter!~


	10. ten: finalé

**author's note**

Mhmm. It looks like this is the last chapter.

**enjoi.**

* * *

**tumbling**

I stared at the door for what felt like eons, digging my fingers into the back of the couch with rising agitation.

_What have I done?_

Naminé had just run from me, tears streaming down her face out my door denying any kind of affection towards me. The argument had moved through in phases of striking high pitch, red flashes of anger and tears. I slowly walked around the couch and collapsed into the cushions, replaying in my head what had happened.

_What is Naminé going to do now?_

I crossed my legs, placed my arms on my knees and my head in my hands.

I picked up my phone, wondering who was the first person she'd want to talk to. It would probably be Olette, so I called Pence.

_"Roxas?"_

"Hey Pence, I know it's a stupid hour and this is kind of personal, but I need to know why Naminé hates liars." I heard him suck in a breath from the other side of the phone.

_"Why do you need to know?"_

"Because I need to apologise to her, but I can't finish the rest of this song without understanding why she can't tolerate lies."

_"You've only known Naminé a few weeks! Why should I give you this information?"_

"_I_ might only have known her for a few weeks, but _blackcat_ has known her for years," I said, hoping my tone revealed exactly what I meant. I heard another sharp gasp from Pence's end, and then some kind of clatter followed by an 'oh' noise.

_"I seriously can't believe the two of you." _I bet he was shaking his head. _"Naminé hates liars because when she was little, her dad was always telling her lies. He would say stuff about how she shouldn't be like Cloud, because he was bi. He told her her mother was a whore. And he always promised her that he would stop drinking. But he never did. _

_"And then in middle school, Kairi took Naminé under her wing, and kept on lying to her, saying that if she did certain things, she would become popular. Naminé got in trouble for stealing a test paper that Kairi asked of her. If Olette wasn't there to pull her away from Kairi's group, then Naminé would have been a social outcast."_

"Wow, that's pretty rough."

_"It's why she can't stand liars now. She can tolerate little, joking lies, but not the big ones, like… like the one you told her, I assume."_

I shook my head, lowering my eyelids, "She really does expect too much of me."

**xox**

I spent the next week refining the rest of _'Beautiful Lies'_ and trying to write the rest of the song down. I hoped this would catch her attention because Naminé had been avoiding me for the entirety of the week; sometimes she was even pulling out of music class, which is the only one we had together.

I spent most week days after the necessary homework writing the rest of the song, trying to convey all the emotions I'd been bottling up the last few weeks.

I slipped the rest of the song into her locker. I know what you were expecting; you wanted some large, massive complicated reveal in which I rented a band and played the song for Naminé in front of a huge crowd of people. And then she'd realise how wrong she was and jump into my arms.

Well things just didn't work that way.

I was eating my lunch in the music room while working on my composition homework, and was halfway through a mouthful of Caesar salad when Naminé barged in, her finished copy of the song in her hands.

She walked up to me, and I had to remind myself that I was trying to ignore how hot she looked right now. Especially angry.

"What is this?"

"The almost completed version of Beautiful Lies," I answered nonchalantly, spearing some more salad. "I thought you might want it."

"Well I don't."

"Good to know," I said coldly. "Well then give me the disk and leave."

Naminé's breath hitched, and I knew she was contemplating what to do.

"Do you want the disk?" I asked her, making sure my tone sounded neutral. She chewed on her bottom lip, looking from the disk to me. She wanted it, but she didn't want to admit she wanted it. "If you want it, you can have it."

"But keeping it just acknowledges that you were right," she said softly, sitting on one of the music tables, still staring at me while I ate my lunch.

"About what?" I said coolly.

"Stop acting like that!" she snapped at me, her eyebrows knitting together. "Stop being emotionless. I can't tell whether you're lying or not."

"I can't help it, Naminé. It's a defence mechanism to make sure I don't get hurt. Just like the anonymous wall you use as pinkribbons."

She was quiet for a long stretch of time, eyes boring into mine as she thought of what to say next. I couldn't stand the contact, and looked down once again.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what?" she asked, this time acting cool and crossing her arms over her chest.

"For lying to you," I replied in a mumble I was sure she heard, pushing my food away and closing the composition I'd been working on. "I really am. And I'm sorry I was such a disappointment to-"

"Gods, Roxas you _idiot._"

"What?"

She hopped off her desk and hopped onto mine, sitting on the table top so I had to look up to see her face, "You're _not_ a disappointment! Where did you _ever_ get that thought?"

"It's just… My stepmother's always told me that I was nothing. Not a good son. Not a good musician. Not a good lover. Naminé, it's drilled into my head that I'll never be perfect." I shook my head, turning away from her warm blue eyes, "I'm never going to be worthy of you."

She rolled her eyes and slapped me across the face. I was so surprised; I didn't even clutch the stinging skin. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Get that _stupid_ assumption out of your head!" she said, her hand curling the side of my neck as she leant down, and pressed her lips against mine. She set off fireworks in my senses, and I couldn't help but wrap my hands against her waist as I deepened the kiss, pressing my lips more firmly against hers.

When we pulled away from each other, she didn't allow me to see her face, which was probably blushing beet red. She rested her forehead on my shoulder, and laughed softly, breathily.

"You're everything I said blackcat was _more,_" she told me, pulling back and brushing the bangs from my eyes. "It doesn't matter what your mother says. I always thought that if I loved blackcat as much as I did, then I've got to love who's behind his façade even more. Don't you understand, Roxas? It's always been you."

I reached forward and gently cupped her cheek, "I think I understand now."

**xox**

"Are you ready for this, Roxas, Naminé?" Ms Gainsborough asked us, and we nodded. I grasped her hand, squeezing it before we stepped out onto the stage of the auditorium before _all_ of the music students to perform our song. Half of them already had their camera phones out. This was going to be our unveiling.

I sat down and tuned my guitar while Naminé readied her voice, setting the lyrics before her. I was ready, so I started to strum, and we began to sing.

_"Oh these mirrors, Darling,  
Reflect a beauty I see,  
In the midst of my dreams. Woah.  
Glittered masks, and pretty words, Sugar,  
Hide something precious inside,  
Or a spirit that's died. _

_"You use façade as a means of protection, oh oh.  
All you need's a simple kind of affection._

"Hey, do you think that song is familiar?"

"Never mind the song, can you hear their voices? They're _so_ familiar."

_"And I can see,  
And I will free,  
A heart whose trapped behind these beautiful lies,  
And hiding delicate eyes. Oh oh oh.  
Reclaim the lost,  
Whatever the cost,  
Because the truth –at first- might be painful to see,  
But the heart is what matters to me."_

"I remember those lyrics. I read them on pinkribbons&blacklace's blog."

"That song was originally composed by blackcat."

_"The reasons that I hid, Lovely,  
Was because I was afraid,  
That you wouldn't have stayed. Oh no.  
I wasn't enough, Darling.  
I lived with lingering doubt,  
While I wanted to shout, out to you."_

_"All my life, I have avoided benevolence,  
What I wanted was a little acceptance."_

"But, how do these two know the rest of the lyrics? Could they have written some more and _finished_ it for them?"

_"Please help me see,  
And help me free,  
A heart who's trapped behind these beautiful lies,  
Wearing a strangling disguise. Oh oh oh.  
Reclaim the lost,  
Whatever the cost,  
Because the truth –at first- might be painful to see,  
But the heart is what matters to me."_

"No. No. That's not right, can you hear _his_ voice? Oh my God…"

"Roxas _is_ blackcat!"

_"Spinning 'round unable to hide anymore,  
Flapping wings and rising but unable to soar.  
Can you hear the way they judge you?  
Or how they put you down?  
Say a silent prayer, and I'll be there,  
To help you when you when you start to drown."_

"And her.. those words. The only one who was close enough to blackcat to know."

"Could it really be her?"

"She's a lot different than how I imagined her."

"It's not. It can't be."

_"And I can see,  
And I will free,  
A heart who's trapped behind these beautiful lies,  
And hiding delicate eyes. Oh oh oh.  
Reclaim the lost,  
Whatever the cost,  
Because the truth –at first- might be painful to see,  
But the heart is what matters to me."_

We finished the song, and bowed. I was ecstatic. Naminé removed her microphone and I placed the guitar against the chair I'd been using. She looked at me for reassurance, and I nodded my head.

"That was 'Beautiful Lies'," Naminé announced, and I'd never felt more free. "Music by blackcat, and lyrics by pinkribbons&blacklace!"

There was a large moment of silence before the crowd of students in the auditorium broke the sound barrier with clapping and yelling, and general surprised outbursts. Some started running up to the stage and asking us questions, telling us what an amazing performance we just pulled off, how they were our biggest fans. And it was rewarding. It felt like a huge weight had just been lifted from my chest.

"What are your names?" one of the older students asked us. Her friend was recording us with a video camera, but we were anything but annoyed for the intrusion.

"She's Naminé D'Ambroise," I told them.

"And he's Roxas Evans."

"Are you two dating?" that was Rikku. She was part of the school newspaper.

"Huh," Naminé turned to me and smiled.

"I guess we are."

**xox**

"Roxas!" Naminé whined as she made another lunge for my laptop. I rolled my eyes, pressing a kiss to her forehead before I snatched the laptop from my couch and went to look for somewhere to hide it. "I want to check my blog."

It had been two weeks since we'd revealed our identities, and now it was summer vacation. We still went back to school every other day because we were part of the choir, and I was now dating the lead soprano after all.

I don't know how my friends had convinced me, but I was now housing _eight_ people in my apartment. It was ridiculous, was it not? I mean, there was barely enough space for me, let alone Naminé, Olette, Pence, Hayner, Axel, Larxene, Demyx and Zexion. Larxene, Hayner, Pence and Olette were playing Black Ops II on my PS3 system. Naminé had 'donated' one of the TV's in her house, but I could tell that she'd bought it because the box it came in still had a receipt in it. She said that I couldn't entertain without a decent-sized TV.

Naminé and I had made a pact, and it was that we'd wait until 3:00pm, two weeks after we revealed our identity to start using the internet. I was doing fine, but Naminé was itching to go on a computer. We only had half an hour left. I don't know what she was so eager about.

"Okay, okay," I said, handing it over to her. She sat in my lap as I watched her log in. She was wearing a plain crème top underneath a brown bomber jacket, tight blue jeans and knee-high boots. There were over twenty-thousand messages she had to answer to. She just laughed at them.

"Oh, Roxas. You probably have just as many messages as I do. How are you going to deal with them?"

"I'll manage," I assured her, pressing a kiss to her neck.

"Cross your heart?"

"Hope to die."

* * *

**'no subject' **–by pinkribbons&blacklace

So, I guess the cat's out of the bag. No pun intended. It feels good to finally be able to speak to you guys without hiding behind an anime avatar. It's been a rocky few months, but in that time, it's been a wicked adventure. There are a few people I'd like to thank now that I'm at the end of this story:

Firstly: my brother and his boyfriend, Leon.

Because he offered to sell me off for a few goats. I love him, and without their support I would have just stopped going to school.

Secondly: Olette, Pence & Hayner.

You are the best friends anyone could have asked for. Thanks so much for dealing with the utter bullshit I have been dumping on you in the past few weeks.

PS. Pence, isn't it about time you quit with the secret admirer messages and just _asked her out_ already?

Thirdly: Axel

For dumping Rox at precisely the right time. Or did he dump you? The story changes every time.

Lastly: Kairi

Because you're a spoilt little bitch, and because of what you did, I found out he was blackcat, and the fact that you were sand-bagged during singing practice is divine punishment that gave me a good laugh. I hope you enjoy sitting in hospital while Xion steals your part in the play.

This is Naminé D'Ambroise, coming to you from Twilight Town, home of the best ice cream flavour there is and a grand old clock that's way too loud, saying that both blackcat & I are sticking around ready to begin a new adventure.

Stay excellent, Darlings!

PS. Do you like my new avatar? It's me and my boyfriend, Roxas.

_Posted at 3:03pm_ _(20/12/12) with __**259**__ notes._

**oranges&watermelons** reblogged this from **gotitmemorised?** and added: _OMG, Pence is my secret admirer? Can't you keep that kind of information off the net, Nami?_

**gotitmemorised** reblogged this from **Kinneas-Girl** and added: _you're welcome._

**blindedsilver** reblogged this post from **skyboy** and added: _i was not expecting that. Kairi, lay off._

**NekuProxy** liked this post.

**skyboy** reblogged this from **SunnyTidus** and added: _congrats guys! and Kairi, that's just really harsh._

**AlBhedBaby!** reblogged this from **MissYuna**

**princesskairi** reblogged this from **blackcat** and added: _YOU IRRITATEING WHORE!_

**DutchDeath** liked this post.

show more notes

hide notes

* * *

**Tumblr**

Email Address: _ Password: _

_Log In_

* * *

**fin.**

* * *

Well, it's been an amusing week with guys. I know this story as short, but it _was_ meant as a one shot. I hope you'll stick around for more stories from me. But adios until then.

Stay Excellent!~


End file.
